











» 






































VINDICATION 

OF 

THE HINDOOS 


FROM 

THE ASPERSIONS 

OF 

THE REVEREND CLAUDIUS BUCHANAN, M.A. 

WITH A 

REFUTATION 

OF THE 

ARGUMENTS EXHIBITED IN HIS MEMOIR, 

ON THE EXPEDIENCY OF AN 

ECCLESIASTICAL ESTABLISHMENT 


FOR 


BRITISH INDIA, 

AND THE 

ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION OF THE NATIVES , 
BY THEIR CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 
also, 

REMARKS ON AN ADDRESS 

from the 

MISSIONARIES IN BENGAL TO THE NATIVES OF INDIA, 

CONDEMNING THEIR ERRORS, AND INVITING THEM TO 
BECOME CHRISTIANS. 

^ THE WHOLE TENDING TO EVINCE THE 

€jetcHcncc 


FA 


A 



amoral of tfjc Dinboosf, 


AND THE DANGER OF 

INTERFERING WITH THEIR CUSTOMS OR RELIGION. 


BY A BENGAL OFFICER. 






LONDON: 


\t 




Printed by Brcttcll and Co. Marshall-Street, Golden-Square i 

FOR R. AND J. RODWELL, 

♦36, oxford-street. 


1808. 




















CONTENTS. 


PAGE 


Introduction ... . 

Conversion of the Hindoos,—how far practicable . . 

Excellence of the Religious and Moral Doctrines of 

the Hindoos. 

Hindoo Character ... 

Danger and Inutility of employing Hindoo Converts 

to preach to the Natives of India. 

Expediency of an Ecclesiastical Establishment for 

British India—considered. 

Hindoo Ilolydays...» . 

Moral Character of the Hindoos .. 

Civilization of the Hindoos.• . . 

Excessive Polygamy of the Koolin Brahmins . . , 

Diversity of Religious Tenets among the Hindoos . 

Religious Mendicants.*. 

Danger of attempting the Conversion of the Natives of 

India ..... . 

Conclusion .. 

Appendix. 


I 

15 

24 

52 

54 

61 

74 

90 

105 

121 

135 

m 

153 

159 

161 






















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/ 


I 


. \ 








/ 

























* 


' 














INTRODUCTION, 


Having recently been favoured with the 
perusal of a manuscript, professing to be “ A 
“ Translation of an Address * to the Inhabi- 
“ tants of India, from the Missionaries of 
“ Serampoor, in Bengal, inviting them to 
“ become Christiansand having been, at 
all times, deeply impressed with a strong 
sense of the impolicy, inutility, and danger 
of all attempts to convert to Christianity the 
natives of Hindostan: no sooner, therefore, 
did I peruse the indicated missionary paper, 

* Printed in the language and character pecnliar to Ben¬ 
gal ; and now in the possession of a Gentleman lately re¬ 
turned from that country. 

A 




t 


than I threw together the few remarks that 
will be found in the subsequent pages of this 
Pamphlet. 

With these Remarks, are blended some 
extracts from the Hindoo Code of Laws, and 
other Works of Indian celebrity; thus intro¬ 
duced, for the purpose of evincing, that, if 
the Hindoos are not already blessed with the 
virtues of Morality, it can in no wise be at¬ 
tributed to the want of an ample system of 
Moral Ordinances, for the regulation of their 
conduct in society ; and that, consequently, 
they have less need of the improving aid of 
Christianity, than is commonly imagined by 
those pious zealots who inconsiderately an¬ 
nex the idea of barbarism, to every religious 
system, not blessed with the sacred light of 
Gospel dispensation. 

Whether the Hindoo system merit the ap¬ 
plication of an epithet so opprobrious, I 
must entirely leave to the unbiassed judge¬ 
ment and candour of the reader, on an im¬ 
partial consideration of the documents now 
before him: and I have only to regret, that 


a 


the cause of the Hindoos, on this occasion, 
has not fallen into abler hands, who would 
have exhibited it in a more pleasing garb; 
and ushered it, with the voice of 'eloquence, 
to public consideration: thus stamping on 
it an attraction beyond the mere statement 
of facts ; and thence, rendering those facts 
more strikingly impressive on the public 
mind. 

If the conduct of the Missionaries has here, 
so unwisely forced itself on the attention 
of the public; and thus rendered them ob¬ 
noxious to the displeasure of our Government 
in the East; in having, unsanctioned by its 
authority, assumed the dangerous province 
of attempting to regulate the consciences of 
its native subjects; to the manifest tendency 
of disturbing that repose and public confi¬ 
dence, that forms at this moment, the chief 
security of our precarious tenure in Hindos- 
tan: if men, thus labouring for subsistence 
in their vocation, and under the necessity of 
making converts, at any rate, in order to en¬ 
sure the continuance of their allowances, and 
A 2 ! 


4 


the permanency of their mission, rashly ven* 
ture to hurl the bigot anathema of intole¬ 
rance, at the head of the 66 Barbarian Hin¬ 
doos and, unadvisedly, to vilify the reve¬ 
red repositories of their faith ; we may find 
some colour of excuse, in the seeming ne¬ 
cessity under which they act: but, that a 
member of the English church, a public ser¬ 
vant of the Company, and holding a distin¬ 
guished situation under Government, should 
wantonly step forth, and make, in the most 
public manner, an avowal of his sentiments, 
not only of the necessity of a hierarchy of 
British clergy, to combat the Indian hydra 
of superstition ; but even the “ policy” of 
somewhat employing the dread engine of 
coercion; towards effectually performing 
the work of reformation ; seems a measure 
so manifestly impolitic, inexpedient, danger¬ 
ous, and unwise, as scarcely to admit of any 
excuse, short of the unhappy impulse of 
insanity. 

The Reverend Claudius Buchanan, Vice¬ 
provost of the College of Fort-William, is 


5 

that member of the Church, to whom I here 
allude. 

He has recently published a Memoir, on 
the expediency of an Ecclesiastical Esta¬ 
blishment for British India; chiefly with a 
view to 44 the ultimate civilization of the 
natives,” by their conversion to Christianity. 
This measure he considers as 44 a solemn 

44 AND IMPERIOUS DUTY, EXACTED BY OUR 
“ RELIGION AND PUBLIC PRINCIPLES — 
44 IT BEING BY NO MEANS SUBMITTED TO 
44 OUR JUDGEMENT, OR OUR NOTIONS OP 
44 POLICY, WHETHER WE SHALL EMBRACE 
64 THE MEANS OF IMPARTING CHRISTIAN 
44 KNOWLEDGE TO OUR SUBJECTS OR NOTf.” 

—And, in order to evince the expediency of 
the measure, he is lavish of animadversions 
on the 44 degraded character of the Hindoos, 
44 their superstition, their ignorance, their 
44 personal vices, and senseless idolatry/' 

At so momentous a crisis of the Company's 
affairs, when, by the recent operations of a 


* Yid. Memoir, page 40. 


+ Ibid. p. 29. 


6 

destructive war, we have alienated the affec¬ 
tions of the principal chiefs of Hindustan; 
when our possessions in the East are menaced 
with hostility, by the united powers of France 
and Russia; who having, it seems, found 
means to conciliate the Persian government; 
have already, it would appear, advanced a 
large force towards that country, for the pur¬ 
pose of making arrangements, preparatory to 
an early Invasion of the Company's territories, 
by a combined force of Persians, French, and 
Russians. 

At such a moment, when the affairs of the 
Company seem sinking under the pressure of 
an enormous debt of thirty Millions !— 

At such a moment, when the spirit of dis¬ 
affection has gone forth, among our native 
subjects in the peninsula of India, as has 
unhappily been, recently, so unequivocally 
manifested, on more than one occasion !— 

At such a moment, when a wise policy 
would seem to dictate the necessity of secu¬ 
ring friends in every possible quarter, to shield 
us from the impending danger !— 


1 

At such a moment, I say, teeming with an 
accumulation of evils, that menace with 
destruction, our very existence in the East: — 
Is it wise, is it politic, is it even safe, to insti¬ 
tute a war of sentiment against the only friends 
ofany importance, we seem to have yet left in 
India,—our faithful subjects of the Ganges, 
by suffering Missionaries, or our own Clergy, 
to preach among them, the errors of ido- 
latrjr and superstition ; and thus, disseminating 
throughout the public mind, the seeds of 
distrust and disaffection, to the imminent 
danger of every energy of the State P 

Hitherto, this result has been happily ob¬ 
viated, by the tolerant conduct of our 
Governors in the East; judiciously seconded 
by the executive servant/>f the Company ; in 
due attention and indulgence to the customs, 
the prejudices, and religious rites of the na¬ 
tives of every description. 

If we believe, with Mr. Buchanan, that “it is 
an imperious duty, exacted by our Religion/' 
to proceed in the work of reformation ; a re¬ 
servation, I presume, must be understood, in 


8 


favour of that trite but prudent maxim, that 
64 self-preservation is the first law of Nature: 7 ' 
and though this maxim seems to have no place 
in Mr. Buchanan's system of reformation ; yet 
as we are a Commercial people, in the East; 
and thence, probably, too much wedded to 
worldly considerations, to merit the grace of 
Martyrdom, thus gratuitously offered ; I there¬ 
fore apprehend, we shall prove so ungodly, as 
to reject the proffered boon ; even from the 
respected hand of a Protestant Divine: and 
thus, incontinently, make an inglorious com¬ 
promise with the “ Barbarian Hindoos," on 
the selfish principle of expediency. 

But, I would by no means have it under¬ 
stood, that I consider theproposed indulgence 
to the Hindoos, in not interfering with their 
Religion, as a matter of mere expediency, 
unconnected with the claims of justice ; or, 
that forbearance is to be conceded, only on 
the principle of reciprocity ; by exchanging 
toleration for consequent security :—I dis¬ 
claim for the Hindoos the justice of such a 
commutation, however imperious the alter- 


9 

native, as connected with our safety: for I 
would repose the Hindoo system on the broad 
basis of its own merits; convinced, that, on 
the enlarged principles of moral reasoning, 
it little needs the meliorating hand of Christian 
dispensations, to render its votaries, a suffi¬ 
ciently correct and moral people, for all the 
useful purposes of civilized society : for,—“ we 
know that the law is good, if a man use it 
lawfully.” * 

There may be errors in their system : for, 
what system is without them ? and if errors 
have crept into the moral practice of the Hin¬ 
doos, and have, too long, remained, upborne 
on the wings of superstition ; this is perhaps 
to be ascribed to the tenacity of custom, ever 
jealous of its rights, when flowing from a 
source of religious consideration ; and will ul¬ 
timately, perhaps, yield only to the influence 
of improved reason and philosophy : for I 
fear, Religion alone, never corrected its own 
errors ; nor ever will; without the aid of Rea¬ 
son, which first discovers those errors.—It is 


St. Paul’s first Epistle to Timothy, Chap. i. ver. 8. 


10 


to this maturity of Reason that we owe the 
Protestant Religion; and yet, the balance is 
kept in equipoise, by half of Europe, who 
reject it. 

If the approaches of the Hindoos to this 
maturity of Reason, have been more slow, 
than those of other people; it is perhaps 
owing to a greater degree of religious sub¬ 
serviency, than is common to the rest of 
mankind; but, as all improvement is pro¬ 
gressive, where Reason is the guide ; we may 
rationally hope, that the Hindoos are, alrea¬ 
dy, somewhat advanced on the road; and 
that, however slowly they may move, the jour¬ 
ney is not interminable ; and that they 
should, therefore, have ample time allowed 
them to proceed :—but, if we rashly attempt 
to urge them forward, with the dread lash 
of coercion, we shall only impede their 
progress, by thus forcing them to stop 
awhile, to chastise us by extirpation, as a 
just return for our temerity. 

When first I undertook the task of penning 
my thoughts on this subject; I was chiefly 


11 


impelled by the consideration that, some 
local knowledge, necessarily acquired, during 
a long residence in India, might enable me, 
not only to throw some light on the Hindoo 
Character; but possibly, to suggest how far 
the introduction of the Christian Religion 
among the natives of India, was a measure, 
either politic or practicable :—or whether, its 
interposition was at all necessary, to the im¬ 
provement of the Indian system of Moral 
Ordinances.— 

The result will appear in the first part 
of this Pamphlet, which I had arranged in its 
present form, before Mr. Buchanarfs Me¬ 
moir was put into my hands. 

That Memoir, by taking a more exten¬ 
sive range; introducing a variety of new 
matter ; and exhibiting the different objects 
in a more conspicuous point of view ; }as 
equally induced and enabled me to extend 
my remarks on the subject, beyond the li¬ 
mits I had either first proposed, or deemed 
at all necessary. 

Mr. Buchanan having, in the form of an 


12 


analytical survey, separately commented ori 
each obnoxious point of his subject; I have 
therefore judged it necessary to follow the 
same course, in my humble attempt to re¬ 
move from the public mind, the injurious 
impressions which his strictures are obviously 
calculated to produce ; by representing the 
Hindoo character in a state of moral degra¬ 
dation, neither supported by just reasoning, 
sanctioned by veracity, or manifested by 
a faithful and enlarged view of the facts* 
which are honoured with his notice. 

That reasoning, and those facts, the reader 
will duly appreciate, on a perusal of my ob¬ 
servations, detailed in the second portion 
of this Pamphlet. 

Those observations, I accordingly venture 
to commit to the candid consideration and 
indulgence of the public.—They are a tri¬ 
bute of gratitude to a people whose charac¬ 
ter, conduct, and manners, as far as they 
have come under my observation, have ever 
commanded my respect, and secured my 


esteem. 


13 


Under these impressions therefore, when I 
found them so wantonly vilified, in the pages 
of that Memoir; and suffering under the 
pressure of imputations, conveyed in the un¬ 
qualified language of virulent abuse ; I con¬ 
sidered it a tribute to the majesty of Jus¬ 
tice ; a sacred offering at the shrine of Truth; 
and thus, to adopt the language of Mr. Bu¬ 
chanan, “ a solemn and imperious duty ex- 
“ acted by my Religion to rise in their 
vindication, and endeavour to rescue their 
prostrate cause from the giant grasp of their 
fell adversary, thus menacing its destruction. 

How far I may be found to have suc¬ 
ceeded in this attempt, must be left to the 
impartial judgement of the reader: happy 
indeed shall I be, should it appear to have 
satisfactorily conveyed to his mind, a con¬ 
viction of the injustice done to the Hindoos 
by the Reverend Mr. Buchanan. 

If that gentleman has selected the chaff' 
and rubbish of the harvest, for the first course 
of the entertainment; I trust, the Company 
will not the less relish the more substantial, 


14 


though homely fare now laid before him; 
and if the hand of a master has been want¬ 
ing, to add due relish to the respective arti¬ 
cles of the repast; those articles are, at least, 
served up without the factitious aid of false 
appearances. If the treat be not elegant, it 
is yet sound and wholesome; and is thus 
accordingly, submitted to public taste; like 
a picture from Nature, traced by the pencil 
of Truth. 




15 


CONVERSION OF THE HINDOOS, IIOW FAR 
PRACTICABLE. 


Those pious Preachers of the Gospel, who 
proceed to India, for the purpose of convert- 
ing the Hindoos, merit the thanks of the 
Church, for their good intentions : but their 
zeal is misapplied, and their labours will be 
fruitless ; no Hindoo of any respectability 
will ever yield to their remonstrances. 

To forsake his family, his friends and his 
station in Society, is a dreadful alternative 
for the proffered boon. Irreparable loss of 
Cast, and expulsion from his Tribe, must be 

the necessary result of embracing the Chris* 

% 

tian Faith. 

Can the whole circle of penal statutes ex¬ 
hibit a punishment more severe, than thus 
degrading a man in society ? 



16 

What is life, when retained only at the 
expence of what is most dear to every 
sentient being,—the cheering converse of his 
friends, and the approbation of society ? 

To be a wandering object of public scorn, 
drives the mind to desperation, and renders 
misery complete. 

They are told in the Geeta,* that “ the 
“ fame of one who hath been respected in 
“ this world, is extended even beyond the 
“ dissolution of the body. " 

Would the Missionaries dispel this charm, 
by urging them to an act, that must cause 
them to forfeit the good opinion of society ? 

In the Heetopades,*!* it is said: “ He 
“ who hath been expelled by all his kindred, 
“ is easily to be defeated : for, his relations 
46 too, out of respect for themselves, are 
“ ready to destroy him." 

Ibid. p. 257.— “ One should, on no ac- 
66 count, enter into any connection with 
“ one who hath departed from the faith : for, 


* Page 38. 


i Page 255 . 


17 


“ although he be bound by treaty, he will, 
44 because of his own unrighteousness, break 
“ his engagement. ” 

Those Missionaries therefore, who have 
been at the pains to translate the Bible into 
the Bengal language, and who circulate ad¬ 
dresses among the people, condemning their 
errors and their idolatry, would do well, to 
look a little into their manners, and to re¬ 
flect whether those publications have not 
some tendency to disturb the peace and 
order of society. 

They thus, gravely tell the Hindoos : 

44 Your Sastras* are only fit for the 
44 amusement of Children,—and your books 
44 of Philosophy are mere fables/' 

44 Hereafter, do ye and your brethren, ab- 
“ ominate the discourses of Barbarians; — 
46 the Sastras of Barbarians contain not the 
44 means of salvation/' 

It is thus, that in those parts of Ireland, 
where Roman Catholics are most numerous, 

* The component chapters of the Veda, or Hindoo 
Scripture. 


C 


18 


especially about Kilkenny, Methodist preach¬ 
ers go about to fairs and markets, preaching 
to the people, in their native language, the 
necessity of renunciation of the errors of po¬ 
pery,— they usually appear on horseback, 
with a velvet cap on their heads ; and, soon 
attracting attention, they harangue with 
great energy and enthusiastic vehemence, on 
the injurious influence of papal doctrines, 
and the blind folly of adhering to tenets, 
eminently hostile to their hopes of Salvation. 
But, I apprehend, this injudicious mode of 
proceeding is productive of little utility; 
people do not like to be told that they are 
fools; and if they listen to those zealots, it 
is more from novelty than conviction: and 
as their heated imagination often leads those 
preachers beyond the bounds of prudence, in 
their strictures, which are not often delivered 
with the soothing voice of persuasive elo¬ 
quence, they, not unfrequently, derive from 
their temerity, somewhat more than the 
mere hissings of the multitude :—the stones of 
that country are not quite so soft as cotton ; 


19 

and the swiftness of the preacher’s horse is 
often the best shield for the protection of the 
riders sconce. 

Whether they merit such a return, for the 
zeal they thus manifest, is not my province 
to decide : but, I am afraid that such a pro¬ 
cedure tends rather to irritate than con¬ 
vince ;—that it tends to disturb the harmony 
of society, by inducing religious discussions 
on controverted points ;—and that it unhap¬ 
pily serves to exhibit Protestant Reformers 
in an unamiable point of view; dictating 
when they should persuade; and dogmati¬ 
zing when they should convince. — But the 
day of Anathema, I trust, is past; and we 
may be lulled into persuasion, when we 
would not be forced into submission. 

It were better therefore, perhaps, to com¬ 
mit to time the operation* of more lenient 
measures; some mode of general information, 
and diffusion of reformed doctrines through 
the medium of public schools; where the 
children of such poor, as should voluntarily 
embrace the measure, either from conviction 
c % 


20 


of sentiment, or motives of temporal interest, 
should be educated at the expence of the 
State, and be apprenticed in due time to 
some useful employment: thus happily en¬ 
lightening their minds, and rendering their ser¬ 
vices beneficial to themselves and to Society. 

Should the Eastern Missionaries persist in 
the discharge of their vocation, and adopt the 
injudicious plan of their brethren in Inland, 
fatal consequences may be the result : the 
general mildness of the Hindoo character, 
and the relative situation of Europeans in the 
East, may perhaps secure the preachers from 
any personal insult; but, as they will neces¬ 
sarily be regarded as acting under the sanc¬ 
tion of Government, the Hindoos will view, 
with jealousy and dissatisfaction, this Euro¬ 
pean interference with the venerated system 
of their Ancestors ; will consequently relax in 
that respect, and apparent cordiality, that has 
hitherto been cherished by our liberal tolera¬ 
tion, and judicious indulgence in all matters 
regarding the celebration of their worship.— 
This tie once loosened, that binds them to our 


21 


interest; this charm once dissolved, that at¬ 
taches them to their duty; farewell all future 
dependence on their exertions, to any effi¬ 
ciency of action: and farewell that mutual 
confidence that can no longer be reciprocal, 
while distrust is engendered by a sense of in¬ 
jury and oppression. 

In such a disposition, they would be 
ready to join the first Holcar among them, 
that should raise the standard of revolt. 

To secure, therefore, their fidelity, we 
must merit it by liberality;—by total for¬ 
bearance from all religious restraintand 
by due attention and indulgence to their 
manners, their customs, and their prejudices, 
which are inseparably united with the rites 
of their Religion. 

If policy thus dictate a laudable for¬ 
bearance on our part; let us examine whe¬ 
ther the object of our Missionaries be at all 
feasible in fact. 

In the book of their divine legislator 
Menu,* it is thus stated : 

* Page 357. 


22 


V. 94.—“ To Patriarchs, to Deities, and to 
“ Mankind, the Scripture is an eye giving 
“ constant light. Nor could the Veda*' Sas- 
“ tra have been made by human faculties, 
“ nor can it be ineasnred by iiuman reason, 
u unassisted by revealed glosses and com- 
“ ments: this is a sure proposition.” 

V. 95.—“ Such codes of law as are not 
“ grounded on the Veda, and the various he- 
“ terodox theories of men, produce no good 
“ fruit after death, for they all are declared 
“ to have their basis in darkness. ” 

V. 96 .—“ All systems which are repugnant 
“ to the Veda, must have been composed 
“ by mortals, and shall soon perish : their 
“ modern date proves them vain and false. ^ 
V. 101.— “ As fire, with augmented force 
“ burns up even humid trees : thus he, who 
ei well knows the Veda, burns out the taint 
“ of Sin, Which has infected his Soul. ” 

“ A Man's own religion is better than the 
“ faith of another man, be it ever so well fol¬ 
lowed :— it is good to die in one's own 
* The Hindoo Scripture. 


23 


“ faith; for another's faith beareth fear/'* 
imprest with a steady faith in the decla¬ 
rations here exhibited ; with what patience 
will the Hindoos listen to the voice of foreign 
Priests who attempt to controvert them ? 

Moreover, it is declared in their Sastras, 
in enumerating the seven degrees of Sin, 
that the 46 reading of books of any other re¬ 
ligion, ” is reckoned among sins of the third 
degree; and equal in enormity to a man's 
“ refusing assistance to his relations, in a 
44 manner befitting his circumstances — to 
4,4 the selling his wife or son;" — to 44 the 
4,4 murder of a man of any of the three infe- 
44 rior classes, or of a woman."*f* 

Can the Hindoos then, with propriety, 
even peruse the Book which the Missionaries 
have been at the trouble of translating for 
their use ? 

But the Missionaries tell them that their 
44 Sastras are only fit for the amusement of 
46 children let us therefore hear their law¬ 
giver Menu. 

* Gecta, 48. + Ayeen Akbery, vol. iii. p. 243. 


24 


EXCELLENCE OF THE RELIGIOUS AND MORAL 
DOCTRINES OF THE HINDOOS. 


P. 348.—“ WHEN a man perceives, in the 
“ reasonable soul, a disposition tending to 
“ virtuous love, unclolf d^with any malignant 
“ passion, clear as the purest light, let him 
“ recognise it as the quality of goodness. ” 

P. 356. v. 84. — 46 Among all those good 
“ acts performed in this world, said the 
“ Sages, is no single act held more powerful 
“ than the rest; in leading men to bea- 
55 titude ? 

V. 85. — “ Of all those duties, answered 
66 Bhrigu, the principal is, to acquire from 
“ the Upanishads,* a true knowledge of 
“ one Supreme God; — that is the most 
* Chapters on the .Essence and Attributes of God. 



25 

“ exalted of all sciences, because it ensures 
“ immortality.'’ 

V. 86.—“ In this life indeed, as well as 
“ the next, the study of ^Veda, to acquire a 
“ knowledge of God, is held the most effica- 
“ cious, in procuring felicity to man.” 

V. 87.— 46 For, in the knowledge and adora- 
“ tion of one God, which the Veda 
“ teaches, all the rules of good conduct 
are fully comprised. ” 

V. 91; —“Equally perceiving the Supreme 
Soul in all Beings t &nd all Beings in the 
“ Supreme Soul; he sacrifices his own spirit, 
46 by fixing it on the Spirit of God; and ap- 
44 proaches the nature of that sole Divinity, 
“ who shines by his own effulgence. ” 

V. 59_“ Those whose undertakings are in 

46 Him, whose souls are in Him, whose com 
44 fidence is in Him, and whose asylum is in 
44 Him, are by wisdom purified from all of- 
44 fences, and go from whence they shall 
44 never return. ” 

V. 99_“ He my servant, is dear unto me, 

44 who is free from enmity, the friend of all 


26 

u Nature, merciful, exempt from pride and 
“ selfishness, the same in pain and pleasure, 
44 patient of wrongs, contented, constantly 
44 devout, of subdufed passions and firm re- 
44 solves ; and whose mind and understanding 
44 are fixed on me alone.” 

Are these, 44 Tales for Children? are 
44 these the discourses of Barbarians?" 

Again: 

Menu, p. 261. v. 118.— 44 Let every Brah- 
44 men, with fixed attention, consider all na- 
64 ture, both visible and invisible, as existing 
44 in the Divine Spirit: for, when he contem- 
44 plates the boundless universe existing in 
44 the Divine Spirit, he cannot give his heart 
44 to iniquity. ” 

V. 119.—“ The Divine Spirit alone, is the 
44 whole assemblage of Gods; all worlds are 
44 seated in the Divine Spirit; and the Di- 
44 vine Spirit, no doubt, produces, by a chain 
44 of causes and effects, consistent with free 
“ will, the connected series of acts, perform- 
44 ed by embodied souls." 

V. 120.— 44 We may contemplate the sub- 


27 


44 tile aether in the cavities of his body ; the 
44 air, in his muscular motion, and sensitive 
44 nerves; the supreme solar and igneous 
44 light, in his digestive heat, and visual or- 
44 gans: in his corporeal fluid, water; in the 
44 terrene parts of his fabric, earth/' 

V. 121.— 44 In his heart, the Moon ; in his 
44 auditory nerves, the guardians of eight re- 
44 gions*; in his progressive motion, Visiin u*j*; 
44 in muscular force, HaraJ; in his organs 
44 of speech, Agni|[; in excretion Mitra§; 
44 in procreation, Brahma.**" 

V. 122.— 44 But he must consider the su- 
44 preme omnipotent Intelligence as the So- 
44 vereign Lord of them all; by whose 
44 energy alone they exist;—a Spirit, by no 
44 means the object of any sense, which can 
44 only be conceived by a mind wholly abs- 
44 tracted from matter, and as it were slum- 
44 bering ; but which, for the purpose of as- 
44 sisting his meditation, he may imagine 

* Eight points of the Compass. t The Preserver, 

J The Destroyer. || God of Fire. 

§ The Sun. ** The Creator. 


28 


^ • 
’ s 
3 


ft more subtile than the finest conceivable 
“ essence, and more bright than the purest 
" gold.” 

These tales , I acknowledge, are very fit for 
children; and if they be “ mere fables,” as 
the Missionaries assert, some allowance 
should be made, in consideration of the 
remoteness of the period which gave birth to 
such philosophy;—that remote period, in 
which, our savage ancestors of the forest were, 
perhaps, unconscious of a God; and were, 
doubtless, strangers to the glorious doctrine 
of the immortality of the Soul, first revealed 
in Hindostan. 

Menu further says :*—“ In proportion as 
“ a man who has committed a sin, shall truly 
“ and voluntarily confess it, so far he is dis- 
“ engaged from that offence, like a snake 
a from his slough.” 

V. 230. — “ And in proportion as his 
“ heart lothes his evil deed, so far shall his 
46 vital spirit be freed from the taint of it.” 

V. 232.—“ Thus revolving in his mind the 


* P. 339. v. 229. 


29 


“ certainty of retribution, in a future state, 
“ let him be constantly good, in thoughts, 
“ words, and action/' 

V. 235.—“ All the bliss of Deities, and of 
“ men, is declared by sages, who discern 
66 the sense of the Veda, to have in devotion 
“ its cause, in devotion its continuance, in 
“ devotion its fulness/' 

V. 239-—“ Whatever is hard to be traversed, 
“ whatever is hard to be acquired, whatever is 
“ hard to be visited, whatever is hard to be 
“ performed ; all this may be accomplished 
“ by true dev otion: for, the difficulty of de- 
“ votion is the greatest of all/' 

V. 242. — “ Whatever sin has been con- 
“ ceived in the hearts of men, uttered in their 
“ speech, or committed in their bodily acts, 
“ they speedily burn it all away, by devo- 
“ tion, if they preserve devotion as their best 
“ wealth." 

V. 244.—“ Even Brahma, lord of crea- 
“ tures by devotion, enacted this code of laws; 
“ —and the sages by devotion, acquired a 
“ knowledge of the Vedas." 


30 

V. 245.—“ Thus the Gods themselves, ob- 
" serving in this universe, the incomparable 
“ power of devotion, have proclaimed aloud, 
“ the transcendant excellence of pious auste- 

“ rity:-but,—* Cf to a man contaminated 

“ by sensuality, neither the Vedas, nor libe- 
“ rality, nor sacrifices, nor strict observances, 
“ nor pious austerities, ever procure felicity.” 

If these be fables, I wish we would teach 
them to our children ; unless indeed, it be 
profanation, thus to recommend “ the dis- 
“ courses of Barbarians,” which the Mission¬ 
aries plainly tell us only merit abomination. 

The Missionaries, more effectually to work 
on the fears of the “ barbarian Hindoos/’ 
judiciously offer them this salutary warning: 

“ Unless ye are cleansed from evil, ye will 
“ not go to Heaven ; ye will be cast head- 
“ long into the aweful regions of Hell.’* 

“ Hell is full of inevitable sufferings, in the 
midst of fire, never to be extinguished ; its 
“ extinction will never come to pass . 99 

That the Hindoos themselves are neither 


* P. 29. v. 97. 


31 


ignorant, nor insensible on this score, may be 


concluded from the following extracts from 
their Book of Laws :— 

Menu, 347.— 44 By the vital souls of those 


44 men, who have committed sins, in the 


“ body reduced to ashes, another body, com- 



“ posed of nerves with five sensations, in 
44 order to be susceptible of torment, shall 



44 certainly be assumed after death.” 

“ Let each man, considering with his 
44 intellectual powers, those migrations of the 
44 soul, according to its virtue or vice, into a 
44 region of bliss or pain, continually fix his 
* heart on virtue.” 

P. 354. v. 73.— 44 As far as vital souls, ad- 
44 dieted to sensuality, indulge themselves 
44 in forbidden pleasures; even to the same 
“ degree, shall the acuteness of their sen- 
“ ses be raised, in their future bodies, that 
64 they may endure Analogous pains.” 

V. 74.— 44 And in consequence of their folly, 
44 they shall be doomed, as often as they re- 
44 peat their criminal acts, to pains more and 


32 


“ more intense, in despicable forms on this 
“ earth.” 

V. 75. —“ They shall first have a sensation 
“ of agony in Tama Sira, or utter darkness, 
“ and in other seats of horror: in Asipatra- 
“ vANA,orthesword-leaved forest: and in dif- 
“ ferent places of binding fast, and of rending.” 

V. 7 6 —“ Multifarious torments await them; 
“ they shall be mangled by ravens and owls; 
“ shall swallow cakes boiling hot; shall walk 
“ over inflamed sands ; and shall feel the 
“ pangs of being baked, like the vessels of a 
“ potter.” 

V. 77.—“They shall assume the form of 
“ beasts continually miserable, and suffer 
“ alternate afflictions from extremities of 
“ cold and heat, surrounded with terrors of 
“ various kinds.” 

V. 78.—“ More than once shall they lie in 
“ different wombs, and, after agonizing births, 
“ be condemned to severe captivity, and to 
“ servile attendance on creatures like them- 
“ selves.” 


33 


V. 79-—“Then shall follow separation from 
“ kindred and friends; forced residence with 
“ the wicked; painful gains, and ruinous losses 
“ of wealth; friendships hardly acquired, and 
“ at length, changed into enmities/' 

V. 80.—“ Old age without resource, dis- 
“ cases attended with anguish, pangs of in- 
“ numerable sorts, and lastly, unconquerable 
“ death/’ 

V. 81.—“ With whatever disposition of 
“ mind, a man shall perform in this life, any 
“ act, religious or moral, in a future body, 
“ endued with the same quality, shall he 
“ receive his retribution/' 

Geeta, 117* — “ There are three passages 
** to the infernal regions; lust, anger, and 
“ avarice; which are the destroyers of the 
“ soul/' 

If the influence of these terrors, serve to 
keep the Hindoos in the path of rectitude; 
would it be judicious to break this chain of 
restraint that thus binds them to their duty ? 
Let us again hear their law-giver*. 

* Page 110. 

D 


V. 172.—“ Phiquity committed in this 
“ world, produces not fruit immediately; 
“ but, like the earth, in due season: and 
“ advancing by little and little, it eradicates 
“ the man who committed it.” 

V. 173.—“ Yes; iniquity once committed, 
“ fails not of producing fruit, to him who 
“ wrought it; if not in his own person, yet 
“ in his son’s; or, if not in his son’s, yet in 
“ his grandson’s.” 

V. 174.—“ He grows rich for a while, 
“ through unrighteousness ; then he beholds 
“ good things ; then it is. that he vanquishes 
“ his foes; but he perishes at length, from 
“ his whole root upwards.* 

V. 175.—“ Let a man continually take 
“ pleasure in truth, in justice, in laudable 
“practices, and in purity; let him chastise 
“ those whom he may chastise, in a legal 
“mode; let him keep in subjection, his 
“ speech, his arm and his appetite.” 

V. 204.—“ A wise man should constantly 
“ discharge all the moral duties, though he 
“ perform not constantly, the ceremonies of 


35 


15 religion ; since he falls low, if, while he 
performs ceremonial acts only, lie dis¬ 
charges not his moral duties/ 1 
Having treated the Hindoo Sastras, as 
children's fables, the Missionaries, in a like 
strain of puerile declamation, thus warn the 
Hindoos, of the instability and ultimate pri¬ 
vation of the treasures of this life : 

“ The thought of money and riches is 
44 vain. 

“ The enjoyment of all these goods is but 
44 for a short time ; for, at his death, no one 
44 can take his riches with him. 

44 He must resign all his garments, orna- 
44 ments, and wealth, to his kindred; for, 
44 after that, he will have no corporeal form/* 
How infinitely superiour, in sober dignity 
of sentiment) are the following admonitions 
on the same point) from the enlightened page 
of Menu: * 

V. 238.— 44 Giving no pain to any creature, 
44 let him collect virtue by degrees, for the 
44 sake of acquiring a companion to the next 
44 world/' 

* Page 119, 

D 2 

% 


36 


V. 239.—“ For, in his passage to the next 
u world, neither his father, nor his mother, 
“ nor his wife, nor his son, nor his kinsmen, 
will remain in his company; his virtue 
“ alone will adhere to him.” 

V. 240.—“ Single is each man bom ; single 
“ he dies; single he receives the reward of 
“ his good, and single the punishment of his 
“ evil deeds” 

y # 242—“Continually therefore, by de- 
“ grees, let him collect virtue, for the sake 
“ of securing an inseparable companion; 
“ since, with virtue for his guide, he will tra- 
“ verse a gloom ; how hard to be traversed S” 
V. 243.—“ A man habitually virtuous, 
“ whose offences have been expiated by de* 
“ votion, is instantly conveyed after death, 
“ to the highest world, with a radiant form, 
“ and a body of ethereal substance.” 

In the same page, Falsehood is thus 
arraigned:— 

V, 255*—“ He who describes himself to 
“ worthy men, in a manner contrary to truth, 
“ is the most sinful wretch in this world ; he 


K* 


$7 


16 is the wprst of all thieves, a stealer of 
“ minds/' 

V. 256.—“ All things have their sense 
“ ascertained by speech ; in speech they 
“ have their basis; and from speech they 
“ proceed : consequently, a falsifier of speech 
“ falsifies every thing/' 

Respect for tiie Aged is thus incul¬ 
cated *: — 


V. 120. “ The vital spirits of a young man 
“ mount upwards to depart from him, when 
“ an elder approaches; but, by rising and 
“ salutation he recovers them/' 

V. 121.—“A youth who habitually greets, 
“ and constantly reveres the aged, obtains an 
“ increase of four things; life, knowledge, 
fame, strength/' 

The following aphorisms on Hospitality 
would do credit to any people : — 

Heetop. p. 34. — “ Hospitality is com- 
“ manded to be exercised, even towards an 
“ enemy; when he cometh to thy house: 
“ the tree doth not withdraw its shade, even 
“ from the wood-cutter/' 


* Menu, p. 32. 


58 

P. 50. — 44 Whether he who is come to thy 
“ house, be of the highest, or even of the 
lowest rank in society, he is worthy to bo 
44 treated with due respect; for, of all men, 
44 thy guest is the superiour.” 

P.74. — 44 He is one, in this world, worthy 
44 to be praised of mankind ; he is a great 
44 and a good man, from whom the needy, 
“ or those who come for protection, go not 
44 away with disappointed hopes, and discon- 
44 tented countenances/’ 

P. 75 . —“ It is declared by wise men, that 
44 the crime of him who shall forsake one, 
44 who, through want or danger, may come 
44 to him for protection, is the same as the 
44 biurder of a Brahmen/—( than which 
there is no greater crime on earth*.) 

Heetop. 264— 44 Nor the gift of cattle, nor 
44 the gift of land, nor the gift of bread, nor 
44 the gift of milk, is to be compared with 
44 that, which men call the greatest of all 
44 gifts, the gift of assurance from injury.” 
P. 287. —“ To say, 4 this is one of us/ or. 


* Menu, 238 . 


; , . . 

this is a stranger/ is the mode of estima¬ 
ting practised by trifling minds; to tliose 
“ of more generous principles, the whole 
“ world is but as one family.” 

On the subject of Duty to Parents, 
• v \ Menu * thus observes : — 

V. 227 . — “ That pain and care which a 
“ mother and father undergo, in the pro- 
“ ducing and rearing children, cannot be 
“ compensated in an hundred years.” 

V. 228 .—“ Let every man constantly do 
\ “ what may please his parents; and, on all 

“ occasions, what may please his precep- 
“ tor-f-; when those three are satisfied, his 


44 whole course of devotion is accom- 
“ plished.” 

V. 234.—“ All duties are completely per- 
“ formed by that man, by whom those three 
" are completely honoured ; but, to him, by 
“ whom they are dishonoured, all other acts 
“ ©f duty are fruitless.” 

Regarding Women, it is said J : 

Where females are honoured, the deities 


Menu, p. 46. t Spiritual guide. % Menu, p. 58. 


“ are pleased; but, where they are dis- 
u honoured, all religious acts become useless/' 

V. 58.—“ On whatever house, the women 
“ of a family, not being duly honoured, pro- 
“ nounce an imprecation, those houses, with 
“ all that belong to them, utterly perish.” 

V. 59-—“ In whatever family, the hus- 
“ band is contented with his wife, and the 
“ wife with her husband, in that house will 
“ fortune be assuredly permanent/’ 

V. 6’2.—“ A wife being gaily adorned, her 
“ whole house is embellished ; but if she be 
“ destitute of ornament, all will be deprived 
“ of decoration.” 

P. 258.—“ Let mutual fidelitj^ continue 
“ till death ; this, in a few words, may be con- 
“ sidered the supreme law between husband 
“ and wife. 

“ Let a man and woman united by mar- 
“ riage, constantly beware, lest at any time 
“ disunited, they violate their mutual fidelity.” 

The following expiations for drinking 
Spirituous Liquors, would be considered 
a little hard in our climate: 


41 

P. 320.— 46 Any twice-born yum,* who has 
44 intentionally drunk spirit of rice, through 
44 perverse delusion of mind, may drink more 
44 spirit in flame, and atone for his offence, 

44 by severely burning his body. 

44 Or, he may drink, boiling hot, until he 
44 die, the urine of a cow, or pure water, or 
44 milk, or clarified butter, or juice expressed 
44 from cow-dung. 

44 Since the spirit of rice is distilled from 
44 the Mala, or filthy refuse of the grain ; 

44 and since Mala is also a name for sin ; let 
44 no Brahmen, Chatrya or Vaisya, drink that 
44 spirit. 

44 Inebriating liquor may be considered as 
44 of three principal sorts; that extracted from 
44 dregs of sugar; that extracted from bruised 
44 rice; and that extracted from the flowers 
4 * of the Madhuca : as one, so are all ; they 
44 must not be tasted by the Chieff* of the 
44 twice-born. 

* i. e. he who has received the light of divine knowledge 
from his spiritual guide. 

+ i. e. the Brahmin. 


42 


“ When the Divine Spirit, or the light of 
6< holy knowledge, which has been infused 
" into his body, has once been sprinkled 
cc with any intoxicating liquor, even his 
“ priestly character leaves him, and he sinks 
“ to the low degree of a Sudra. " 

In the chapter on Judicature, Menu 
thus declares :*■— 

V 7 .12. 66 When Justice, being wounded by 
66 iniquity, approaches the court, and the 
“ Judges extract not the dirt; they also, 
“ shall be wounded by it." 

V. 14.— “ Where Justice is destroyed 
“ by iniquity, and Truth by false evidence, 
“ the judges who basely look on without gi- 
“ ving redress, shall also be destroyed. ” 

V. 15.—“ Justice being destroyed will de¬ 
stroy; being preserved, will preserve; it 
“ must never therefore be violated. — Beware 
“ O Judge, lest justice, being overturned, 
“ overturn both us and thyself." 

And in the law of Evidence, it is thus 
declared -f*: 


* P. 190, y. 12. 


t P. 199, y. 8L 


43 


V. 81. “ A witness who gives testimony with 
truth, shall attain exalted seats of beatitude 
and the highest fame here below ; such 
“ testimony is revered by Brahma himself.” 

“ V. 82.—The witness who speaks falsely, 
“ shall be fast bound under water, in the 
“ snaky cords of Vauuna,’* and be wholly 
“ deprived of power to escape torment, du- 
‘‘ring a hundred transmigrations: let man* 
“ kind, therefore, give no false testimony. ” 
V. 83.—“ By truth is a witness cleared of 
“sin; by truth is justice advanced; truth 
“ must therefore, be spoken by witnesses of 
“ every class. ” 

V. 84.—“ The soul itself is its own witness ; 
“ the soul itself is its own refuge: offend not 
thy conscious soul, the supreme internal 
“ witness of men. ” 

V. 85. — “ The sinful have said in their 
“ hearts, ‘ None sees us : ’ yes, the gods dis- 
“ tinctly see them; and so does the spirit 
“ within their breasts. ” 

V. 89- — “ Whatever places of torture 
have been prepared for the slayer of a 
* Lord of the Ocean. 


44 

88 PRIEST, for the MURDERER OP A WOMAN, 
88 OR OF A CHILD ; for the INJURER of a 
“ friend, and for an ungrateful man ; 
88 those places are ordained for a witness who 
88 gives false evidence.” 

V. 94. — 88 Headlong, in utter darkness, 
88 shall the impious wretch tumble into Hell, 
88 who, being interrogated in a judicial en- 
88 quiry, answers one question falsely. ” 

If 88 the Sastras of Barbarians!” 
thus manifest an exalted idea of God; a 
comprehensive sense of moral duties ; a be¬ 
lief in the immortality of the soul, and a fu¬ 
ture state of rewards and punishments; — 
what is it, then, that the Missionaries pro¬ 
pose teaching to the Hindoos ? 

It is true that, in general, they worship 
the Deity through the medium of images; 
and we satisfactorily learn from the Geeta, 
that it is not the mere image, but the invisi¬ 
ble spirit, that they thus worship. 

Chrishna* thus says*f to Arjoon : — 

* An incarnation of Vishnou, the preserving power of the 
Divinity: he is the shepherd god of the Hindoos, and 
equally venerated with Vishnou himself. 

+ Geeta, p. 71. 


45 


“ Whatever image any supplicant Is desi- 
“ rous of worshipping in faith, it is I alone, 
46 who inspire him with that steady faith; 
u with which being endowed, he endea- 
u voureth to render that image propitious ; 
“ and at length, he obtaineth the object of 
“his wishes, as it is appointed by me: but 
“ the reward of such short-sighted men is fi- 
“ nite; those who worship the Devatas*, go 
“unto them; and those who worship me 
“ alone, go unto me. The ignorant being 
“ unacquainted with my Supreme nature, 
“ which is superior to all things, and exempt 
“ from decay, believe me, who am invisible, 
“ to exist in the visible form under which 
“ they see me." 

P. 65. — “ The YoGEE-f* who believeth in 
“Unity, and worshippeth me present in all 
“ things, dwelleth in me in all respects, even 
“ whilst he liveth." 

P. 80. — “ Those who, looking for the ac- 
“ complishment of their wishes, follow the 

* Deities. 

t A Pilgrim devoted to God, and practising austerities. 


46 


** Religion pointed out by the three Vedas* 
“ obtain a transient reward : but those who, 
“ thinking of no other, serve me alone, I bear 
“ the burthen of the devotion of those who 
<e are thus constantly engaged in my service. 
“ — They also, who serve other Gods with 
“ a firm belief, in doing so, involuntarily wor- 
“ ship even me. I am he who partaketh of 
“ all worship, and I am their reward. ” 

P. 98.—“ Those whose minds are attached 
“ to my invisible nature, have the greater 3a- 
“ bour to encounter, because an invisible 
“ path is difficult to be found by corporeal 
“ beings. ” 

P. 47-—“ The wise man should not create 
“ a difference in the understandings of the 
“ ignorant, who are inclined to outward 
“ works:—the learned man, by industriously 
“ performing all the duties of life, should in- 
“ duce the vulgar to attend to them. ” 

But, to insert all those passages that bear 
upon this point, would be to transcribe half 
the Geeta. 

It may, however, gratify the reader, to view 
the sentiments of the wise Abultazel on 


47 


this subject.—That enlightened Minister, of 
a great and enlightened Monarch, Akber, the 
glory of Eastern potentates, thus speaks of 
the Hindoos*: 

“ They, one and all, believe in the Unity 
“ of the Godhead : and although they hold 
“ Images in high veneration ; yet they are by 
“ no means Idolaters, as the ignorant suppose. 
“ I have myself, frequently discoursed upon 
“ the subject, with many learned and up- 
“ right men of this Rel igion, and comprehend 
“ their doctrine; which is, that the Images 
“ are only representations of Celestial Beings, 
“ to whom they turn themselves while at 
<c prayer, to prevent their thoughts from 
“ wandering: and they think it an indispen- 
“ sable duty to address the Deity after that 
“ manner. ” 

In one point indeed, the code of the Hin¬ 
doos essentially differs from that of the Chris¬ 
tians : it inculcates not, the eternity of tor¬ 
ments, in a future state. 

How dreadful,” say the Hindoos, “is 
w the idea of eternal punishment: and if 
* Vol. i. p. 8. 


48 

“ true, how miserable the lot of those who 
“ are untimely carried off, without leisure 
“ for repentance; and with all their imper- 
“ fections on their heads ! Is there, then, no 
“ intermediate place of ultimate purification; 
“ no degrees of reward or punishment, ac- 
“ cording to the measure of desert; but one 
“ aweful alternative,—hell or heaven ?” 

u Where goes the soul on quitting its mortal 
“ abode, if, according to the Gospel dispen- 
“ sation, there is to be, hereafter, a day of 
“ general resurrection ?” 

“ What mortal is at all times free from 
“ sin? But if limited virtue claim equal retri- 
“ bution with the highest state of moral rec- 
“titude; who then would labour for ulti- 
“ mate perfection ?" 

Such notions seem inconsistent with the 
goodness of the Deity, and his justice; 
which, doubtless, apportions to each indivi¬ 
dual the just measure of retribution.—Be¬ 
sides, would the Deity doom to eternal mi¬ 
sery, the spark of divine essence which il¬ 
lumes each embodied soul ? for, “ as a single 
“ sun illuminateth the whole world; even 


49 

M so, doth the spirit enlighten every body*. 11 
And Menu has declared-f, that, 46 The man 
“ who perceives in his own soul, the supreme 
“ soul present in all creatures, acquires equa- 
u nimity towards them all; and shall be ab* 
“ solved at last, in the highest essence; even 
“ that of the Almighty himself . %> 

How consolatory therefore, to the Hindoo, 
is the notion of that purgatory, where the 
soul, in a state of penance, proportioned to its 
mortal impurity, at length, after numerous 
transmigrations, becomes liberated from all 
sublunary stain, and is thus ultimately resto¬ 
red to the mansion of eternal bliss; the 
prime source of its emanation ! 

Such are the sentiments of the Brahmins: 
and I leave the Missionaries to answer them. 

Whatever may be the errors of the doc* 
trine of Transmigration, it is, doubtless, an 
institution having in view, the advancement 
of morality. When the most degrading 
forms of life are held out, as the consequence 
of human transgression ; and the possibility 

* Geeta, p. 106, f Page S62. 

Tj 


50 


of viewing, in those forms, the spirit of some 
departed relative; when the threatened pu¬ 
nishments here exhibited, are painted with 
all their horrors, to the Hindoos, by the re¬ 
vered pastors of their faith ; how powerfully 
must the mind be deterred from the com¬ 
mission of acts, that must, in their opinion,, 
produce such dreadful consequences! 

Impressed therefore, with these sentiments, 
in which “ they live, and move, and have 
their being—to hope that they will ever 
relinquish them, for the doctrine of Christia¬ 
nity, will, I am fully persuaded, be a fruit¬ 
less expectation. And yet they dispute not 
the divinity of Christ : — it would be im¬ 
pious, they say, to suppose the impartial 
Sovereign of the universe, confined to any 
particular spot: and if he has at one time, 
for a special purpose, manifested himself in 
Palestine; let not the zealous Hindoo be 
condemned, for maintaining his frequent 
descents in Hindostan. He has often come, 
they say, and he will come again; and be 
bom of the virgin daughter of a Brahmin 


51 


at the end of this age, to chase all wickedness 
from the face of the earth, and create the 
world anew. 

Crishna says, in the Geeta *,—“Al- 
“ though I am not, in my nature, subject to 
“ birth or decay ; and am lord of all created 
“ beings ; yet, having command over my 
“ own nature, I am made evident by my 
“ own power; and as often as there is a de- 
“ cline of virtue, and an insurrection of vice 
“ and injustice, in the world, I make myself 
“ evident; and thus I appear, from age to 
“ age, for the preservation of the just, the 
“ destruction of the wicked, and the esta- 
“ blishtnent of virtue/' 

If Faith cannot erect her standard on the 
side of Reason, let her assume the garb of 
toleration, and peaceably pursue her jour¬ 
ney in the path assigned her. 

* Page 51. 


£ S 


HINDOO CHARACTER. 


In the course of a long residence in India* 
I have had numerous occasions of contem¬ 
plating the Hindoo character; have mixed 
much in their society; have been present at 
their festivals; have endeavoured to conci¬ 
liate their affections; and, I believe, not 
without effect: and I must do them the jus¬ 
tice to declare, that I have never met with 
a people, exhibiting more suavity of man¬ 
ners, or more mildness of character; or a 
happier race of beings, when left to the un¬ 
disturbed performance of the rites of their 
religion. And it may be truly said, that if 
Arcadian happiness ever had existence, it 
must have been rivalled in Hindostam 
In order to shield this eulogim from the 
possible imputation of partiality, I shall in- 



53 

terpose the decision of Abulfazel, whose 
situation and pursuits furnished him with 
more ample means of appreciating the Hin¬ 
doo character. 

44 Summarily/' says he*, 44 the Hindoos are 
religious, affable, courteous to strangers, 
44 cheerful, enamoured of knowledge, fond 
44 of inflicting austerities upon themselves; 
46 lovers of justice; given to retirement; able 
44 in business; grateful, admirers of truth, 
44 and of unbounded fidelity in all their deal- 
u ings. Their character shines brightest in 
44 adversity :—they have great respect for their 
44 tutors:—they make no account of their 
44 lives, when they can devote them to the 
44 service of God." 

Cease, then, worthy Missionaries, to dis¬ 
turb that repose that forms the happiness of 
so many millions of the human race; a pro¬ 
cedure that can only tend 44 to set a man at 
44 variance against his father, and the daugh- 
44 ter against her mother, and the daughter-in- 
44 law against the mother-in-law-f*;” nor un- 
* Ayeen Akbcry, p. 8. + Matt. x. 35. 


54 


happily cause, by an indiscreet, though per-* 
haps venial zea], that, “ a man's foes sh^U 
“ be they of his own household 


=*? 


DANGER AND INUTILITY OF EMPLOYING 
HINDOO CONVERTS TO PREACH TO THE 
NATIVES OF INDIA. 


A circumstance has recently come to 
my knowledge, that exhibits proof, superior 
to a hundred arguments, of the impropriety 
and dangerous consequences, of injudicious 
interference with the Hindoos, on the score 
of their religion. 

An inhabitant of Calcutta, who had com¬ 
mitted some irregularity, that occasioned ex« 
* Matt. x. 36 . 







55 


pulsion from his tribe, went to one of the 
Missionaries, and was immediately initiated 
into the rites of the Church.—This man was 
soon after, employed by the Missionaries, to 
preach to the people, with a view to their 
conversion. He accordingly proceeded to 
the temple ofCali-ghaut, near Calcutta; and 
began to harangue the crowd, condemning 
their idolatry, their worship, and their sa¬ 
crifices; expatiated on the superiority of the 
Christian doctrines, to which he was himself 
a convert; and exhorted them to follow his 
example, as the only means of Salvation; 
affirming, that the blind path they were pur¬ 
suing, could only lead to their destruction. 

The astonished Hindoos heard him with 
indignation; but, for a while, suppressed 
their feelings, conceiving his reason to be 
deranged:—but, persisting in his animadver¬ 
sions; and becoming more vehement in 
exhortation; they at length, lost all pa¬ 
tience ; and assaulting him, with clods and 
brickbats, drove him from the temple, chased 
him into the street, and, had not some of the 


56 


police-officers interposed, he would probably 
have suffered death from the hands of the 
enraged multitude. 

This affair happened about July or August 
1806;—and became a common topic of con-- 
versation at the Presidency. 

It is not from such men as these, outcasts 
from religion and society, that “ the self- 
66 sufficient Brahmins/' as Sir William Jones 
calls them, will ever condescend to receive 
the lights of a new Religion: the Brahmins 
themselves, must first be converted; and 
then indeed, the people may follow but 
Hoc opus; hie labor est,” 

A million or two of Brahmins are not so very 
easily converted; especially, while indivf* 
dually influenced by the consideration that, 
in neglecting the ordinance of the Vedas,— 

“ With none to eat with them ; none to sa- 
“ crifice with them ; none to read with them; 
“ none to be allied by marriage to them ; 
“ abject, and excluded from all social duties, 
“ they shall wander over this earth/’* 

* Menu, 276. 


57 

Let us, therefore, not wound their feel¬ 
ings, by sending such miscreants among 
them ; the refuse of their own tribes; whom 
they can regard only with abhorrence; and, 
addressing myself to the good sense of our 
Missionaries, let me seriously ask them, What 
opinion must the Brahmins entertain of a 
Religion, that thus receives into its bosom, 
wretches, who have been deemed unworthy 
the communion of their friends; are consi¬ 
dered a disgrace to their families ; and utterly 
rejected the society of the virtuous among 
themselves ? 

With converts of such a description, what 
Brahmin will ever unite, in cordiality of sen¬ 
timent; human nature revolts at the idea 
of self-degradation, as it rends asunder those 
ties, the strong ligaments of opinion, that im¬ 
periously confine the individual to his pre¬ 
scribed station in society. The very recep-^ 
tion, therefore, of those outcasts, into our 
Church, must ever operate to the exclusion 
of any man of respectability ; whose example 
might, otherwise, serve to influence the lower 
classes of the Hindoos. 


58 


In the name of peace, then, and of that 
blessed spirit of toleration which happily 
pervades the British Empire, let us leave the 
Hindoos in the undisturbed possession of 
their altars and their Gods; and, however 
they may differ from us on the score of reli¬ 
gious observances, let us candidly consider 
that they also occupy a station in that vast 
circle, illuminated by the Divine Spirit; that 
our views mutually culminate to the same 
central point, the mansion of eternal bliss, 
where, I trust, we shall all ultimately meet,— 
to part no more; and that, whatever may 
he their errors, they are rendered venerable, 
by the sanction of imperious customs, and 
the practice of their ancestors; and are vir¬ 
tually regarded as the ordinance of the Gods 
themselves ; and which, therefore, from every 
sentiment of reverence, of attachment, and 
of duty, every pious Hindoo must tremble 
to disobey ! 

If I have been somewhat diffuse in the 
selection of passages from Hindoo books, it 
was with a view, not only of evincing, to the 
eye of candour, how very little those people 


59 

stand in need of any instruction from us, in 
the great leading points of moral conduct; 
but also, to shew that their religion is so in¬ 
timately blended with their morality, that, 
in destroying the one, we run no small risk 
of eradicating the other ; for, we cannot rea¬ 
sonably hope to instruct them all at once, in 
the merits of our less complicated system of 
moral duties. 

We should therefore pause, before we at¬ 
tempt to remove those numerous checks to 
transgression, that are exhibited in their 
code; however fanciful or erroneous, in our 
opinion, they may appear. 

I would not, for example, tell them, that 
there is no Varuna in the deep, “ to bind in 
“ snaky cords/’ offenders against the moral 
ordinances: nor would I laugh at them, for 
classing inhospitality, ingratitude, and in¬ 
fidelity in friendship, with the crime of Mur¬ 
der.—If we are less strict in our notions, on 
these points ; we should not disdain to yield 
the meed of praise, to those sentiments, in 
their Code, that place these virtues in so ex- 
alted a degree of estimation. 


60 


The early impressions of youth, fostered 
by the hand of time, strike deep their 
Toots into the plastic mind; entwine them¬ 
selves with the whole system, and are dif¬ 
ficult of eradication.—You must cut down 
the whole field, ere, with safety to the crop, 
you can remove those vigorous tares, that, 
neglected in due season, have shot up into 
maturity, with the wholesome grain that they 
annoy.—Regenerate, then, the Hindoos, if 
you desire effectually to convert them.— 
Warm from the Medean chaldron, affix 
the desired impression: but, short of this 
expedient, I see no prospect of success. 

If you are not pressed for time, and can 
wait for a new generation; take the infant 
Hindoo, and preside over his education: 
but, if the Brahmins will not consent to this, 
your prospect is, indeed, hopeless; and you 
must resign to their fate, this “ self-suf¬ 
ficient generation/’ 


END OF TIIE FIRST PART. 






<51 


CrpeM'encr 

OF AN 

ECCLESIASTICAL ESTABLISHMENT 

FOR BRITISH INDIA, 


The Reverend Mr. Claudius Buchanan,* 
with a laudable zeal for the interests of the 
Church, and the propagation of the true 
faith throughout Hindostan, has recently 
published “ A Memoir, on the Expediency 
“ of an Ecclesiastical Establishment for Bri* 
“ tish India; both as the Means of perpetua- 
<c ting the Christian Religion, among our own 
“ Countrymen, and as a foundation for the' 
“ ultimate Civilization of the Natives." ' 

* Not to be confounded with Francis Buchanan, M.D., 
author of a Journey from Madras, through Mysore, &c- 
lately published. 


m 


The more strongly to impress upon onf 
minds the necessity of such an establishment* 
he observes, that 44 living in a remote un- 
“ healthy Country, amidst a superstitious 
“ and licentious people, where both body 
“ and mind are liable to suffer, we have, it 
“ will be allowed, as strong a claim on our 
“ country, for Christian privileges, as any 
44 other description of British subjects. Of 
44 the multitude of our subjects who come 
44 out every year, there are but a few who 
44 ever return! when they leave Eng- 

64 LAND, THEY LEAVE THEIR RELIGION 
44 TOR EVER* !”— 

This is indeed a very strong and unquali¬ 
fied expression ; and I will venture to say, 
very unauthorized : candour should there¬ 
fore arise, to vindicate the cause of our Coun¬ 
trymen in the East, from the undue pressure 
of such an injurious imputation. 

So far as the argument has reference to 
Bengal, give me leave to ask, whether there 


* Page 11. 


is not at Calcutta, where the majority of the 
Europeans reside, at least one Church,* to 
which they regularly resort ? 

And do not the Chaplains at the military 
stations, regularly perform Divine Service to 
the assembled troops*?—And if at the de¬ 
tached civil stations, there be no Chaplains, to 
officiate to three, four, or more Europeans ; 
I wish, for the good of the Church, and for 
the good of individual Clergymen who may 
want bread, that such may be appointed : — 
but if, by “ leaving their Religion for ever,” 
he means, that all sense of Religion is quitted, 
with the clime that gave them birth; his 
sentiments of the influence of early habits, 
must be limited indeed. 

Educated under the eye of parental exam¬ 
ple and authority, or fresh from the Univer¬ 
sity, where, we must presume, the religious 
and moral duties are unremittingly impress¬ 
ed upon the mind; young men proceed to 
India, generally untainted with the vices of 
the world ; of which, their knowledge must 

* See Appendix, A. + See Appendix, B, 


64 


necessarily be limited, by inexperience ; — 
the early lessons of their instructors are not 
so easily forgotten; they have occupied their 
first thoughts, and are difficult of eradication, 
in any stage of life. It is equally so, with 
bad impressions as with good:—with the good 
they are best acquainted; because, at a 
pure source, they have imbibed them, at a 
time, when the vacant mind, like a blank 
sheet of paper, easily yielded to their in¬ 
fluence ; and thus rendered them indelible. 

These lines may be overwritten or crossed 
by worldly communications; but the original 
character is not lost. Hence it is, that, to 
those in India, secluded from the public 
forms of Divine worship, the essential still 
remains; the sentiments of morality, early 
imbibed with their Religion and if mora¬ 
lity be not the chief object of Religion, I 
shall be glad to be better instructed. 

But, if the frequent recurrence of the 
forms.ot our worship, be wanting to that class 
of our Countrymen, who are detached from 
the Presidency, to the civil stations of our 


65 


territory ; they cannot fail of being edified by 
the daily observance of the religious duties, 
practised by a people, who, Mr. Buchanan 
himself confesses*, 64 are accustomed toreve- 
44 rence the Deity/' 

He has also told us-f*, that 44 wherever the 
44 Christian Minister solicits attention, he finds 
44 an audience; in whatever part of British 
44 India, he is stationed, there will be a dis- 
44 position to respect the Religion of early life* 
44 when its public ordinances shall have been 
44 revived/'—But, those public ordinances 
exist, and have always existed, at the Presi¬ 
dency, and the Army stations; which include 
nine-tenths of our countrymen in the East; 
with what consistency therefore, does he 
assert, that when the Europeans leave Eng¬ 
land. 44 they leave their Religion for ever ?" 

Moreover, when he tells us^, that the natives 
of India 44 wonder, whence we have derived 
44 our principles of justice, humanity, mag- 

* 4 nanimity, and truth is not this a confess 

/ • 

* Page 13. + Page 3. 

* 1 . / 3 . 


66 


sion, on his part, that these virtues may sub¬ 
sist independently of that Religion which, he 
asserts, we have for ever left, on quitting 
Europe. Do we, then, acquire these virtues 
in India ?—or do they result from the moral 
impressions of youth, imbibed with our edu¬ 
cation ? If they be a production of Indian 
growth, we have the less occasion for an 
Ecclesiastical Establishment; but, if they be 
seeds of early excellence, brought to maturity, 
“ amidst nativelicentiousness ” in India,“and 
“ conflicting superstitions*, ” it seems a proof 
that religious influence, either remote or proxi¬ 
mate, must have lent its fostering aid to 
their advancement; and that, consequently, 
we are not absolutely, so destitute, on this 
score, in India, as Mr. Buchanan would 
induce the world to believe. 

Notwithstanding what lias been here ma¬ 
nifested ;—notwithstanding Mr. Buchanan's 
own admission, that there are six military 
Chaplains for Bengal, three in the town 


* Page 16. 


67 

of Calcutta, five at Madras, and four at 
Bombay*that English India has three 
Churches; one at Calcutta, one at Madras, 
and one at Bombay^*;—notwithstanding these 
facts, Mr. Buchanan gravely remarks^, that 
“ we seem at present, to be trying the ques- 
“ tion, whether Religion be necessary for a 
“ state ;—whether a remote commercial Em- 
“ pire, having no sign of the Deity, no 
“Temple, no Type of any thing heavenly, 
“ may not yet retain its Christian purity, 
“ and its political strength, amidst pagan 
“ superstitions, and a voluptuous and unprin- 
“ cipled people.” 

If contradictions of this nature can tend to 
promote Mr. Buchanan's views, I should be 
sorry to stand between him and the object of 
his research ; should that object be a Bishop¬ 
ric, I think his zeal and good intentions es¬ 
tablish a fair claim to consideration; and I 
question not, but he is of opinion with St. 
Paul||, that “ If a man desire the office of a 

* Page 1. + Page 2. J Page 12. 

| See his first Epistle to Timothy, chap. iii. yer, 1. 


68 


“ Bishop, he desireth a good work/' But* 
I am by no means hostile to the extension 
of our Church-Establishment in India; and 
would cheerfully vote for more Chaplains at 
each Presidency: for, besides the obvious 
advantage of additional Chaplains, to ob¬ 
viate the inconvenience of future casualties, 
the accession to society, of well-educated 
and pious clergymen would serve to im¬ 
prove us, by their information ; and edify us, 
by their example; and should, therefore, 
have my hearty vote accordingly but, that 
they should be sent out, for the purpose of 
converting the Natives to Christianity, is a 
measure that, I trust, the good sense of our 
Eulers will, on due consideration, discern to 
be equally injudicious and impolitic; and I 
am fully persuaded, that, if the whole Synod 
of English Clergy were employed on the oc¬ 
casion, they would not, by any means, short 
of absolute compulsion, succeed in convert¬ 
ing one man in a thousand of the vast mass^ 
of Indian population. How limited then, 


69 

must be the labours of a few wandering Mis¬ 
sionaries! 

That there are many reprehensible cus¬ 
toms among the Hindoos, the mere offspring 
of superstition, cannot, unhappily, bedenied : 
but, as they are not enjoined by the Veda, 
and are chiefly confined to certain classes; 
they are by no means invincible: and the 
maturity of human reason will, I trust, bring 
them at length, into disuse. It was this ma¬ 
turity of reason, that put to flight, among 
ourselves, the whole host of witches and their 
spells : and yet, this happy revolution of the 
mind was not effected 'till near twelve centu¬ 
ries after the establishment of Christianity.* 
Nor is the notion of ghosts, of fairies, or of 
evil spirits, yet altogether erased from the 
minds of the lower orders of society; who 
are, indisputably, more under the influence of 
Religion, than the great :-^but, the minds of 
the latter are more enlightened by education; 
and herein rests the proof, that Religion alone 
lyill never effectually subdue it. 


* Blackstone, 4. 


70 

I would not therefore, coerce the Natives 
of India, into a disuse of any of their cus¬ 
toms ; but if we must absolutely interfere, 
I would endeavour to enlighten them, on 
those points, through the medium of their 
Priests. An injunction from the seat of go¬ 
vernment, to the Colleges of Nuddeah, Be¬ 
nares, &c. to take into consideration, the 
more obnoxious points that grate the feelings 
of humanitf, would be an expedient of more 
effect, than the prohibitory mandate of our 
Government. A judicious appeal upon the 
subject, to those seminaries, could scarcely 
fail of being successful; and they should be 
invited to publish their disapprobation of 
the obnoxious rites, for the information of 
the multitude: thus discountenanced, by 
the Brahmins, they would, at length, fall into 
disuse; like some other customs, deemed 
canonical, only in the Sati-yug, or first age 
of the world.—Such, for example, as that of 
the widow espousing the brother of the de¬ 
ceased husband; which, in the present age, 
or Cali-yug, is inadmissible.— No Brahmin 


71 

would thenceforth venture to officiate at 
any rite, thus condemned by the learned as¬ 
sembly of the Pundits * : and this circum¬ 
stance would effectually obviate the interven¬ 
tion of authority, for enforcing the deci¬ 
sion of the Priests. 

In whatever reform we may engage, we 
must take the Brahmins to support us; we 
shall otherwise have the multitude against us, 
and be regarded as despotic. The conse¬ 
quences that may thence result, are of a mag¬ 
nitude too important, to be regarded with 
indifference.—The Hindoos are a mild, a pa¬ 
tient, and a forbearing people, as any under 
heaven; but, driven to desperation, by the 
provoked fanaticism of Religion, their power 
would be resistless : for, as Abulfazel 
says,•!* “they make no account of their lives, 
“ when they can devote them to the service 
“ of God.” 

If about the mere form, or the materials 
of atitrbailpwhich they considered as de¬ 
grading, these people could draw the sword 
+ Aycen Akbery, ii. 8. 


♦ Learned Brahmins. 


of vengeance against their rulers, as was 
lately, so unhappily, manifested at Vellore, 
where so many of our countrymen fell a sa¬ 
crifice to their fury ; can we rationally hope, 
that they will passively yield obedience tQ 
our mandates, when their dearest interests 
are invaded;—the rites and customs of their 
religion ? 

Their resentment, perhaps, may not imme¬ 
diately be manifested; and we may be lulled 
into security, by an apparent acquiescence 
with our desires: but, like an insidious fire 
in the bosom of the earth, it may burst forth 
unexpectedly, and overwhelm us in the ex-* 
plosion. 

Every feeling mind must lament that infa¬ 
tuation, that urges the Hindoo widow to 
burn herself with the corpse of her deceased 
husband: it is an instance of deluded he¬ 
roism, that we cannot but admire, while we 
;ondcmn. But, the calculation of Mr. Cham¬ 
bers*, of the annual number thtis# de¬ 
voted, seems founded on a disputable prin- 

* Yid. Memoir, p. 94. 



73 

eiple; which is, that if, in a certain district, 
which happens to be the most bigoted part 
of India, a certain number be devoted ; cal¬ 
culating thus, I presume by the square acre, 
for all Northern India, the number must be 
in proportion.—As well might we thus calcu¬ 
late for the British empire, on summing up 
the annual deaths, by self-devotement, of 
our countrymen in London. 

What the number may be, in the upper 
provinces of Northern India, I know not; 
but it has so happened, that I never saw an 
instance, nor heard of any recent sacrifice of 
this nature, during many years residence in 
those provinces: though there are very few 
perhaps, who have travelled more than I 
have, among the Hindoos. 

Many monuments, however, of long stand¬ 
ing, may be met with, of these sacrifices, 
throughout Indostan. They consist of small, 
brick edifices, or mural urns, styled suttee, 
erected in the open air; and in which, are 
deposited, the ashes of the sacrifice: but, as 
I cannot charge my memory with having 


74 


witnessed any of recent construction, in the 
upper provinces; I apprehend, the custom 
has, there, much fallen into disuse. 


HINDOO HOLYDAYS. 


“ Another obstacle/'says Mr. Buchanan*, 
44 to the improvement of the natives, is the 
44 great number of their holydays.”—“ But, 
“ great detriment to the public service ari- 
“ sing from the frequent recurrence of these 
“ Saturnalia; Government resolved, some 
44 years ago, to reduce the number; which 
44 was done accordingly. It now appears, 
44 that on the same principle, that a. few of 


* Page 51. 





75 

them were cut off, we might have refused 
“ our official recognition of any; the Pundits 
61 having unanimously declared, that their 
“ holydays are not enjoined by their sacred 
“ books.” 

“ It may be proper,” he adds, “ to permit 
<c the people in general, to be as idle, as the 
“ circumstances of individuals will permit: 

but their religious law does not require us 
“ to recognize one of their holydays of- 
“ ficially.” 

Thus, then, it would appear, that, as their 
holydays are not enjoined in their sacred 
books, we ought not, officially, to recognize 
them. 

That such reasoning should have flowed 
from the pen of a Christian divine, I should 
scarcely have expected :—might not candour 
ask, “ in what part of our Scriptures is it en- 
“ joined, that we keep holy, the Nativity, 
“ Good Friday, or any other of the sacred 
“ days in our calendar ?” 

Shall we claim an exemption, that we deny 
to others, and thus refuse our official recog- 


76 


nition of any holydays, to the Hindoos? 

I know not whether the sentiment be most 
marked by selfishness or injustice !— 64 Consi- 
46 dered as a means of promoting the happi- 
44 ness of the common people*/' the priva¬ 
tion would obviously be unjust: that it is 
selfish, is equally manifest; as Mr. Bucha¬ 
nan considers *j*, that 44 it very seriously im- 
44 pedes the business of the State, and de~ 
44 ranges commercial negociation.” 

We would thus detach the people from the 
service of their God, to attend to temporal 
interests, of which we are to derive the chief 
benefit. 

If this be liberality, 1 thank my God, I 
find nothing like it in my creed. 

To a commercial people, indeed, the re** 
suit is doubtless of importance: but, are 
temporal considerations to be the sole objects 
of life ? Is man to live by bread alone ? The 
soul is of more importance than the body; 
and the numerous occasions presented by 
these holydays, of consulting its interest, 
* Page 53. 


t Ibid. 


77 

should rather be promoted than suppressed. 
The oftener a man thus approaches the Deity, 
the more is his morality improved; the so¬ 
cial duties are improved ; and the practice 
of correctness becomes confirmed into habit. 

Yet Mr. Buchanan asks*, “ in what other 
“ country would it be considered a means of 
“ promoting the happiness of the common 
“ people, to grant them so great a portion of 
“ the year, to spend in idleness and dissipa- 
“ tion ?” 

Is this, the dignified language of an En¬ 
glish Clergyman, to a free people ? or, is it 
not rather, the language of a master to his 
servants ; of a despot to his slaves ; of a peda¬ 
gogue to his scholars; or, of a West-India 
planter to the wretched sons of Africa, whom 
fortune hath doomed to unlimited subser¬ 
viency in his household ? 

To such, indeed, it might be considered a 
boon to grant, as an indulgence, what the 
free man claims, as a natural right;—that of 


Page 53, 


78 


spending his time as he pleases;—self-interest 
will always militate in his breast, against un¬ 
due idleness, and dissipation ; and urge him 
to exertions without the necessity of compul¬ 
sion :—but, to grant a free man permission 
to be idle, appears a solecism in sentiment, 
of manifest inconsistency. 

But, Mr. Buchanan adds*, “ the indul- 
fic gence operates here as it would in any 
66 other country ; it encourages extravagance, 
“ licentious habits, and neglect of business 
“ among themselves.” 

That the terms u extravagance and licen- 
“ tious habits” should thus be applicable to 
the Hindoos, we learn only, I trust, from 
Mr. Buchanan. Under the sanction of a ge¬ 
neral observation, perhaps calculated for the 
meridian of Europe, he has taken the thing 
for granted ; and inconsiderately committed 
himself, at the shrine of candour, by the 
rash avowal of a sentiment, that wants the 
sanction of veracity :—for, be it known to 

* Page 53. 


79 

those who are unacquainted with the 
Hindoos $ that they are by no means, to be 
measured by the standard of European man¬ 
ners.—-On days of religions festivity, the low 
Hindoo proceeds not, like the low European, 
from the temple to the alehouse; where the 
benefit of the sermon is soon shaded, by the 
mists of intemperance.—Among the Hindoos, 
on such occasions, we witness no feasting, 
no rioting, no quarrelling, no picking of 
pockets; as is too frequently the case, with 
our countrymen in Europe :—but, all is de¬ 
corous, simple, quiet, and inoffensive. 

I speak at large, of the people of Indos- 
tan ; and am sorry that I am thus compelled 
to a contrast so unpleasingbut— 

66 Semper ego auditor tantum nunquamne reponam ?”* 
Perhaps in that circle, the limits of Cal¬ 
cutta, to which Mr. Buchanan’s observations 
have chiefly been confined ; the manners of 
the Hindoos, somewhat influenced, by the 
admixture of foreign seeds of moral practice, 


* Juvenal. 


80 


may be Jess pure, than in other parts of India f 
but, whatever may be the vice of the Hindoo 
character; I fear it is not likely to be much 
meliorated, by engraftment, on the manners 
of the low native Portugueze ; the debauched 
individuals of inferiour Mussulmen , or the 
inebriated European soldier or sailor; whose 
irregularities are, not unfrequently, so emi¬ 
nently conspicuous, in the bazars of Cal¬ 
cutta. 

46 In the Hindoo calendar, ** Mr. Buchanan 
tells us*,“ there are upwards of an hundred 
“ holy days.”— But, all this time is not lost* 
either to the people or the state: for, except 
perhaps, in some of the principal festivals, 
scarcely half the day is thus devoted to the 
celebration of the festival: for, the Hindoo 
having, in the spare hours of the morning, 
discharged his duty, at the Temple or the 
River, subsequently proceeds to his vocation; 
and perhaps increases his diligence in the 
execution of his work ; but, whatever time 
may be thus spent, there is abundant popu- 
* Page 51. 


81 


lation, to obviate any apprehended inconve¬ 
nience, from the frequent recurrence of 
these festivals.—I have accordingly, on one 
occasion, counted sixty-three ploughs at work, 
in one field ; and that, too, on a Holyday. 

Averse, however, to the official recognition 
of any Hindoo holydays ; Mr. Buchanan 
observes,* that, “ to those natives employed 
“ in the publick service, the fifty-two Sun- 
“ days are sufficient for rest from bodily 
“ labour:" and he subjoins, in a note, that 
“ no people require fewer days of rest, than 
“ the Hindoos ; for they know nothing of 
“ that corporal exertion, and fatigue, from 
“ labour, which, in other .countries, render 
“ regular repose so grateful to the body and 
“ spirits." 

We must hence conclude, that this gentle¬ 
man has never proceeded up the river Ganges, 
and witnessed the exertions of the boatmen, 
in tracking against the stream, for thref 
months successively, up to the frontier sta 
tions. 

* Paged!?. 

G 


82 


Does he conceive that there is no fatigue 
attendant on the labour of thus daily contend¬ 
ing with a strong current, for eight or ten hours 
together* exposed to the fervid rays of an 
Indian sun, in the months of April, May, and 
June; the hottest season of the year?—or, 
does he think it not laborious, in the rainy 
season, when the river has overflowed its 
banks, to see men under the necessity of 
tracking, more than half the day perhaps, 
through the water; commonly breast-high* 
and often more ? does not such labour imply 
much corporal exertion, and consequent fa¬ 
tigue ?---and all this labour, is more or less 
attendant on all the commercial, inland navi¬ 
gation throughout the country. 

Has Mr. Buchanan never stept into the 
country, to view the husbandman at his 
plough, or the farmer irrigating his field, in 
the sultry season of the year, when there is 
scarcely a breath of air in the heavens; while 
the lord of the soil sits basking in the com 
forts of a good habitation ; though scarcely 


83 


able to respire under the oppressive weight of 
a light calico Banian ? 

Has he never witnessed, at this season, the 
labour of excavating tanks; of sinking wells; 
ojt embanking rivers; of cutting down the 
corn, in the hot months of March and April; 
of individuals carrying burthens on their 
heads, of forty pounds weight, on a journey 
or a march, for fifteen or twenty miles in a 
forenoon ?—Or, has he not even, looked about 
him at the Presidency ; and cast an eye to 
the dock-yards, the Custom-house, and the 
store-rooms of the Merchants?—He would 
there discover, that the London porter has 
vastly the advantage of the Indian; his 
labour being comparatively limited, in 
loading his cart or waggon: while, masts 
and } r ards of ships, the largest timbers, and 
all the paraphernalia of the merchant, in the 
East, are commonly transported, a consider¬ 
able distance, on mens shoulders. 

Has he not seen women, constantly 
throughout the day, carrying large jars ot 
water, on their heads, or their hips, for dr 
o 2 


Si 


mestic purposes ?—or seen them act as la¬ 
bourers, in carrying brick, mortar, clay, &c, 
in baskets, on their heads ? 

Do not females in the Upper provinces 
sopietim.es act even as porters, and carry the 
baggage of travellers, and other burthens, 
from village to village?—And he must fre¬ 
quently, have met porters, in Calcutta, car¬ 
rying a pile of bricks, on the head, five or 
six and twenty, in a basket; which, on a 
moderate computation, must weigh one hun¬ 
dred and fifty pounds. 

Having seen all these things, and con¬ 
sidered the detail I have here exhibited ; 
will Mr. Buchanan persist in asserting that 
the Hindoos “ know nothing of that cor- 
66 poral exertion, and fatigue, from labour, 
“ which, in other countries, render regular 
44 repose so grateful to the body and spirits ?” 

To people so employed, would he deny 
the recreation of a holyday;—were it even 
a holyday, for the mere purpose of recrea¬ 
tion ? In their opinion it is more; being con¬ 
sidered as the mandate of the Divinity, who 


85 


demands their presence at his shrine. 
Thus obedience becomes indispensable ; and 
where duty, conducted by inclination, and 
tirged by the comfort of occasional relaxa¬ 
tion, points the road to happiness, in the 
breast of the pious Hindoo; to interpose 
between him and that happiness, would nei¬ 
ther be generous, or just. But he tells us,* 
that, “ to give them more holy days, than 
“ the fifty-two Sundays, is to nurse their 
“ superstitions/' 

Would it then be reasonable thus to de¬ 
prive the Hindoos of their Calendar, and 
compel them to substitute our own? This 
would be to strike at the very root of their 
Religion ; as the recurrence of their festivals 
usually depends, either on some lunar aspect, 
some planetary conjunction, some solar posi¬ 
tion, or astronomic Cycle;—and though their 
respect for Sunday is not less zealously 
manifested than our own, yet it is not al¬ 
together, in the same way; with them it is 
invariably a sort of fast; as, on that day, they 


* Page 52. 


86 

abstain from salt with their provisions : and 
having, in the morning, discharged the cus-< 
tomary duties; the goodness of the Deity, 
they say, permits them to close the day, with 
due attention to their temporal concerns. 

It would, doubtless, eminently tend to 
the promotion of human happiness, did one 
Religion alone, pervade a state ; especially 
if it be true, as Mr. Buchanan asserts,* that 
“ there never can be confidence, freedom, 
“ and affection, between the people and 
“ their Sovereign, where there exists a dif* 
“ ference in Religion.” 

If this sentiment be correct; how precari¬ 
ous must be our situation, in the British Ern^ 
pire, where half the subjects of his Majesty 
are not of the Religion of the state! and 
where, if we are justly informed, of one- 
hundred and thirty-thousand sailors, in our 
Navy, in the administration of Mr. Adding¬ 
ton, full seventy-thousand are calculated to 
have been Irish; who being chiefly taken 
from the lower orders of society, may safely 


Page 29. 


87 

be concluded to have been, generally, 
Roman Catholicks. 

But as, in the present state of the world, 
conformity of religious sentiment must be 
a hopeless expectation; it is lamentable to 
reflect, that differences of opinion should 
ever thus wantonly be obtruded on public 
notice, as a bugbear to contending parties; 
and insisted on as the test of fidelity, and 
reciprocal affection, between Sovereign and 
people. 

Better perhaps, that there were no state 
religion ; that all should be guided only by 

the words of the Evangelist * ;-When 

“ thou prayest, enter into the closet—that 
we should have religion in our hearts only; 
and never in our mouths ; and that morality 
alone, should be “ the outward and visible 
“ sign of the inward and spiritual grace*' of 
religion. 

As the preceding sentiment, however, 
Was, doubtless, not introduced by Mr, 


* Matthew; chap. vi. ver. 6, 


88 

Buchanan, with a view to the comment to 
which it, obviously, seems obnoxious; as 
tending to imputation on the fidelity of the 
subject, from mutual hostility of religious 
discrepancy; it seems but justice, to ac¬ 
knowledge, that he thereby intended only to 
evince the necessity of Indian civilization, 
by a general extension of the Christian 
Religion: this measure he considers very 
practicable, for, says he,* 44 the natives of 
44 India are a divided people ; they have 
44 no common interest; to disseminate 
44 new principles among them, is not diffi- 
44 cult.” 

But, as an excess of zeal will sometimes 
obscure, either the judgement or the me¬ 
mory ; Mr. Buchanan accordingly, losing 
sight of the opinion here submitted to our 
consideration, ventures, in a subsequent 
page -f, thus to ask: 44 would not Chris- 
44 tianity, more effectually than any thing 
44 else, disunite and segregate our subjects, 


Page 26. 


+ Page 3 2. 


'39 

“ from the neighbouring; states; who are 
“ now of the same religion with themselves; 

“ and between whom there must ever 

c< BE, as THERE EVER HAS BEEN, a COn- 

66 stant disposition to confederacy, and to 
“ the support of a common interest.” 

Barely glancing, however, at this inconsis¬ 
tency of the Reverend Divine, his zeal and 
good intentions may perhaps obtain excuse 
for this small lapse of recollection. Whe¬ 
ther therefore, as he assures us, the natives 
of India, having “ no common interest,” may 
be easily converted ;—or, as he again assures 
us, having always “ a common interest;” it 
be desirable to disunite them, by means of 
Christianity, for the improvement of their 
morality ; it is, at all events, full time to 
commence the pious work of their Conver¬ 
sion ; which, candour must allow to be 
absolutely necessary. If his statement be 
correct, regarding — 


06 


THE MORAL CHARACTER OF THE HINDOOS; 

Mr. Buchanan informs us*, that “ the moral 
“ state of the Hindoos is represented as being 
“ still worse than that of the Mahometans. 
“ Those who have had the best opportunities 
“ of knowing them, and who have known 
“ them for the longest time, concur in de- 
“ daring, that neither teutb nor ho- 

“ NESTY, HONOUR, GRATITUDE NOR CI1A- 

“ rity, is to be found pure in the breast 
“of a Hindoo. How can it be otherwise? 
“ The HINDOO CHILDREN HAVE NO MORAL 

“ instruction. If the inhabitants of the 
“ British Isles had no moral instruction, would 
“ the}’ be moral ?” 

The Hindoos have no moral boors. 
What branch of their mythology has not more 
of falsehood and vice in it, than of truth and 
virtue ? They have no moral gods. 


* Page 32. 


91 


The robber and the prostitute lift up their 
hands, with the infant and the priest, before 
an horrible idol of clay, painted red; de¬ 
formed and disgusting as the vices which are 
practised before it.” 

Here, within a very limited space, we see 
compressed, a series of charges, which, if ca¬ 
pable of being substantiated, would sink the 
character of the Hindoos very low indeed. 

To these charges, however, I must, in the 
first place, oppose the opinion of the enlight¬ 
ened Abulfazel, as already exhibited in 
the early pages of this Pamphlet;—and to 
which accordingly, I must beg leave to refer 
the Reader *. 

To this, if I could presume to add my own 
humble testimony, an experience of seven- 
and-twenty years would enable me, at least, 
to do justice to their unexampled honesty 
and fidelity. 

Will it be believed, in Europe, that a gen¬ 
tleman having twenty servants in his house, 
shall entrust them with the care of his liquors, 


'* See page 47. 


plate, money, jewels, &c. of ali which, Tiui 

KEYS REMAIN IN THEIR HANDS?-shall 

leave his house, perhaps, for a month or 
more; and, on his return, find every article 
as he left it — undissipated, untouched, and 
unimpaired ? 

u What can we reason, but from what we 
46 know ?” 

I have myseli been in this predicament; 
—have had, in my house, at one time, more 
than eighty dozen of wine; three or four 
hundred pounds in gold or silver; besides 
plate, linen, &c.;—all under the care of my 
Hindoo servants, who kept the keys op 
every article: and those keys, instead 
of being kept in any degree of security, usual¬ 
ly lay under the pillow of the head-servant, 
or one of his tribe; or, perhaps, carelessly 
thrown on the humble mat or carpet, which, 
spread upon the floor of the veranda, or com¬ 
mon hall, served him as a bed : And although 
those keys lay thus exposed to the view or 
knowledge of all the other servants, who 
might easily have taken them, at any hour 



of the day or night; and with one or other 
of whom, indifferently, they were often left in 
charge ; yet I cannot, with a safe conscience, 
charge any of those servants with having 
ever purloined a single bottle of wine, the 
smallest article of plate, or so much as a ru¬ 
pee, from the money thus deposited. 

Let me, then, ask the candid reader; let 
me ask Mr. Buchanan himself; who, unin¬ 
fluenced by the prospect of professional ad¬ 
vantage, had possibly been less willing to 
vilify the Hindoos; — let me ask, I say, 
whether, in Great Britain, under such ob¬ 
vious circumstances of temptation, the mas¬ 
ter's property would have been safe for a 
single day ? And yet, I have, more than once, 
made an excursion of more than fifteen hun¬ 
dred miles, while my property has been 
daily thus exposed to the mercy of a people 
who, Mr. Buchanan assures us,* “ are desti- 
“ tute of those principles of honesty, truth 
and justice, which respond to the spirit of 
“ British administration: ”—“ and who have 
* Page 36, 


94 

" not a disposition which is accordant with 
“ the tenour of Christian principles/' 

But, I trust, that, while sobriety, honesty, 
temperance, and fidelity, are held estima¬ 
ble among mankind ; the humble possessor 
of these virtues, among the Hindoos ; will 
be deemed not unworthy, even of Christian 
emulation. 

When it is considered that the people of 
whom I here speak, are of the lower classes 
of the Hindoos: — when we reflect on Mr. 
Buchanan's assertion, that they have no mo¬ 
ral instruction nor any moral books ; whence 
proceed then, may we ask, those happy ef¬ 
fects already indicated, which we must con¬ 
sistently, rankamong the virtues of morality ? 

Are the Hindoos intuitively virtuous ? That 
they are so, we should conclude, from a due 
consideration of all the premises :—for, Mr. 
Buchanan asks, “ if the inhabitants of the 
“ British Isles had no moral instruction, 
“ would they be moral ?” — If every effect 
thus necessarily includes a cause ; the Hin* 
doos must either have the benefit of moral 


instruction, or be intuitively gifted with the 
virtues we have described. 

Of their moral books, we shall be better able 
to judge, when we have due expositions of 
their Scriptures i but, while we have the In- 
stitutes of Mfisfu, the Geeta, and the 
IIeetopades ; it would be injustice to deny 
their claim to some small portion of mora¬ 
lity ; and yet, Mr. Buchanan assures us, that 
“ they have no moral Gods." 

Mr. Buchanan is a divine, a man of learn¬ 
ing and research; and should know these 
things better than a simple layman: yet, I 
must confess, that, before I perused his book, 
I had always regarded as moral Gods, the 
Indian Triad, Brahma, Vishnou, and 
Seeva ; who are usually considered as perso¬ 
nifications of the Divinity, in the respective 

i 

attributes of Creation, Preservation, 
and Destruction. 

It also appeared to me, that the active 
power of those divinities, respectively mani* 
festedin the persons of Sereswati, Lutch- 
mee, and Doorga, could be considered in 


96 


no other light, than as types of Virtue. 
Thus for example, when Doorga Bahva- 
nee*, Consort of Seeva, mounted on her 
tremendous Lion, rushes forth to combat 
Mykassoor, the Indian Minotaur, in the 
form of a Buffalo; is it not a speaking pic¬ 
ture of good sense, representing the good and 
evil principle contending for supremacy;— 
Virtue warring against Vice? And when, 
having cut off the head of the Buffalo, the 
evil spirit springs from the headless trunk, a 
human form upwards from the waist; and 
renews the combat; does it not seem to typify 
the proteus-like versatility of Sin; which, how¬ 
ever often repressed, is ever ready to assail 
us, in some new shape ? 

This is, perhaps, one of the most obvious 
tales of their mythology; and the pictures 
which represent it, may daily be seen at 
Calcutta; in their temples, in their houses, 
and for sale in their Bazars ; and, doubtless, 
this exposition of the text must have esca¬ 
ped the accuracy of Mr. Buchanan's Inves-. 

* See Appendix, C. 


97 

tig&tion; he would, otherwise, not have 
demanded, “ what branch of their Mytho- 
“ logy has not more of falsehood and vice in 
“ it, than of truth and virtue ?” 

But if there be any one point in which 
I can more clearly answer him, than an¬ 
other, it is perhaps in this : for, having some¬ 
what looked into the subject ; I have no 
hesitation in declaring, that no branch 
whatever, of their Mythology, so far as 
I understand it, appears to merit, in the 
smallest degree, the harsh charges of vice 
and falsehood, with which Mr. Buchanan so 
inconsiderately brands it. 

Wherever I look around me, in the vast 
region of Hindoo Mythology, I discover Piety 
in the garb of allegory: and I see Morality, 
at every turn, blended with every tale: and, 
as far as I can rely on my own judgement, 
it appears the most complete and ample 
system of Moral Allegory, that the world 
has ever produced. 

Having thus endeavoured to vindicate 


H 


98 


their Mythology, I must not suffer to pass 
unnoticed, the following strain of turgid 
declamation; which to the uninformed 
European, at the distance of half the 
globe, has an imposing appearance ; as flow¬ 
ing from the pen of a Christian Divine; 
in whose representation, a statement of 
facts, unwarped by prejudice, and supported 
by veracity, might naturally be expected to 
appear :— 

“ The robber and the prostitute," says 
Mr. Buchanan # , “ lift up their hands, with 
“ the infant and the priest, before an hor- 
“ rible idol of clay, painted red, deformed 
“ and disgusting as the vices which are prac- 
“ tised before it." 

Among those who present themselves, in 
any country, at the altar of the Divinity, 
it must argue great powers of discrimina¬ 
tion, to be able to separate the righteous 
from the ungodly ; so as to ascertain who is 
the robber; who the prostitute; and who 


* Page S3. 


99 

the virtuous votary: God, alone, truly 
knoweth the hearts of men ; and accord¬ 
ingly, the Preacher saith, “ Woe unto 
“ him, who calleth his brother fool : for he 
“ shall abide the judgement/' But, if the 
robber and the prostitute approach the ah 
tar; is not the door of grace open to the 
repentant sinner ? and is there not, “ more 
“joy in,Heaven, over one sinner who re- 
“ penteth, than over the ninety and nine who 
“ had not gone astray/' 

Would Mr. Buchanan, then, step between 
them and the altar; and, assuming the au¬ 
thority 3jSf Heaven's Vicegerent, deny the 
grace that they solicit ? 

If they prostrate themselves before idols; 
what are these, as Abulfazel says, but 
“ representations of Celestial Beings, to 
“ whom they turn themselves while at 
prayer, to prevent the thoughts from w^an- 
“ dering;" but their ultimate research is 
the Divinity himself; for, “ they, one and 
all, believe in the Unity of the Godhead." 
And this is the declaration of an enlight- 
h 2 


100 


ened Mohammedan (Abuefazel), whose 
means of appreciating the Hindoo character, 
were at least equal to those of Mr. Bu¬ 
chanan. 

Of the nature of the “ disgusting vices 
“ practised before these idols/’ 1 am entirely 
ignorant; for, though I have visited many 
Temples of celebrity, in Bengal, Benares, 
Muttra, Canouge, and Huvduar*; and a 
hundred places besides; yet I have never 
witnessed any exhibition at their shrines, 
that bore the appearance of indecency. 

Unless we can charge Mr. Buchanan with 
a want of information of his subject?:; his view, 
in thus vilifying the Hindoos, must be suffi¬ 
ciently obvious : the higher the colouring, the 
more striking the picture ; the lower the moral 
character, the greater the necessity of a ra¬ 
dical reform; and as he assures us,-)'* that 
this can never be effected “ by any other 
“ means, than by the principles of the Chris- 
“ tian Religion,” the necessity of a Church 

* Where the Ganges enters the plains of India. 

4 Page 37. 


101 


Establishment, for the accomplishment of 
this great work would hence appear to be 
unquestionable. 

But, I fear, there is often in the human 
mind, too ready a bias to depreciate, what¬ 
ever may appear hostile to the object of 
its research. 

It is, therefore, perhaps, indecorous, thus 
w to ring the changes” on the assumed de¬ 
graded state of the Hindoos; the vices of 
their character; their senseless idolatry; 
the falsehood and moral turpitude of their 
Gods. If his cause be otherwise good ; his 
public object may be attained; and perhaps 
the accomplishment of his private views, 
without recurring to assertions, equally dis¬ 
putable and injurious, and unworthy he 
dignity of a Member of the Church. 

That there are some great points, in the 
general superstition of the Hindoos, which 
we might wish to sec retrenched, is not to 
be disputed; but, individually, and in pri¬ 
vate life, I see little to condemn; and 
justly to say of any people, that they arc 


102 

mild, modest, and obsequious; patient, obe¬ 
dient, and attentive ; hospitable, charitable, 
and benevolent; honest, sober, temperate, 
and faithful ; I conceive to be no small 
praise.—Whenever, therefore, the Christian 
Religion does as much for the lower orders of 
society, in Europe, as that of Brahma thus 
appears to have done for the Hindoos, I 
shall cheerfully vote for its establishment in 
Hindostan. 

“ For modes of faith, let graceless zealots fight; 

(£ His can’t be wrong, whose life is in the right.” 

But we are assured by Mr. Buchanan him¬ 
self*, that these people 64 have not a disposi- 
44 tion which is accordant with the tenour of 
44 Christian principles/’—Why, then, would 
Christians force upon them those principles, 
if by principles he means Religion ? Be¬ 
cause, says he, 44 it is a solemn and impe- 
44 rious duty, exacted by their religion and 
44 public principles/’—It being by no means, 
he adds, -f* 44 submitted to our judgement, or 

* Page 36. t Page 29. 


« 


103 

u to our notions of policy, whether we shall 
“ embrace the means of imparting Christian 
“ knowledge to our subjects or not, any 
“ more than it is submitted to a Christian 
“ father, whether he shall choose to instruct 
“ his family or not 

The Hindoos are certainly your subjects; 
and so far, they are your children : but, ha¬ 
ving forced yourself on them, as a father, 
would you, now, force instruction on them, 
for the regulation of their consciences ? 
Should they reject your instruction; remem¬ 
ber the “ imperious duty exacted by your 
“ religion;"— “coercethis contemptuous 

“ SPIRIT OF OUR NATIVE SUBJECTS j- ” and 
“ CHASTISE THE ENORMITY OF Til KIR SU- 
“ PERSTITTON AT THE FOUNTAIN-IIEAD^." 

But, should they, like the Mahomedan, 
“ grasp the dagger fear it not; it is 
your duty to proceed in the pious work : 
you are, professedly, a people militant, 
in the ways of conscience; “ nor is it 

* See Appendix, D. 

+ Page 31. $ Page 50. § Page 30. 


104 


“ submitted to your judgement/ 9 whether 
you shall recede or not: proceed on, there¬ 
fore, to the last; till, in the pious struggle 
against Hindoo vice and superstition, you ob¬ 
tain that glorious crown of Martyrdom, that, 
at the same moment, deprives you of the 
country and of life. 

It is, doubtless, very allowable in Mr. 
Buchanan, to exhibit every reasonable ar¬ 
gument, tending to evince the necessity of 
establishing a specific code, for the com¬ 
plete civilization of the Hindoos; and the 
suppression of obnoxious usages, either sanc¬ 
tioned by custom, or countenanced by their 
religion. Like a wise champion, be has 
availed himself of the negligence, or the 
error of his opponent, and entered the lists, 
with obvious advantage of the ground. 
A few great leading points stand conspicuous 
in the foreground of his argument, and, by 
the converging rays of their influence, he 
may hope to challenge credit, for those of 
inferiour consideration. 

“ He that is first in his own cause, seemeth 


105 


“ just,” saith the Preacher: <c but his neigh- 
“ bour cometh and searcheth him*.” 

In a few of those points, I trust, we have 
been, not altogether unsuccessful, in plead¬ 
ing for the Hindoos; to some points of minor 
consideration, we shall now take the liberty 
of adverting. 


CIVILIZATION OF THE HINDOOS. 


“ At an early period,” says Mr. Buchanan, 
“ we read of the wisdom and learning of the 
u Egyptians, and Chaldeans; and it is pro- 
“ bable that the wisdom and learning of the 
“ Hindoos were the same in degree, at the 
“ same period of time. 

* Prov. xviii. 17. 





106 


“ It may be presumed further, that the 
“ systems of the Hindoos would remain longer 
“ unaltered with them, by reason of their re- 
“ mote and insulated situation; from which 
“ circumstance also, their writings would be 
“ more easily preserved 
“ But now, the wisdom of the East hath 
“ past away, with the wisdom of Egypt; 
46 and we might, with equal justice, attribute 
ct civilization to the present race of Egyptians, 
64 as to the present race of the Hindoos. v 

Mr. Buchanan therefore recommends*, 
“ that, since the Hindoos are proved, on good 
66 evidence, to have been a civilized people 
“ in former days; we should endeavour to 
“ make them a civilized people again.” 

That the wisdom of Egypt hath past away, 
seems manifest. The Copts, the mongrel 
descendants of the ancient Egyptians, have 
long ceased to be an established people: the 
Arabs, the Turks, and the Mamlukes, have 
successively contributed, to suppress the 
learning and wisdom of Egypt, and nearly 


* Pa££C 109. 


107 

to annihilate its people; whonow scarcely form 
a fourth part of the present mass of Egyptian 
population *. 

Whatever had remained of the wisdom of 
Egypt, under the Greeks and Romans, fell 
a sacrifice, in the 7th century, to the intole¬ 
rant zeal and bigotry of the Arabs, in the reign 
of the Caliph Omar ; when the literary world 
sustained an irreparable loss, by the destruc¬ 
tion of that magnificent library collected in 
Alexandria, under the liberal auspices of the 
Ptolemies.—On the capture of that devoted 
city, by Amrocj, the Caliph’s General, in the 
year 640.—Four-hundred-thousand volumes, 
the accumulation of ages, were committed 
to the flames; the Caliph saying, that “ if 
“ they contained only what was in the Koran, 
“ they were useless; and dangerous if any 
“ thing more *j\” 

The Hindoos have been somewhat more 
fortunate.—It is true that Mahmood and 
Timur committed great ravages; demolished 
many of their Temples; and destroyed many 


Savary. 


+ Savary. 


108 


of the people: but their Religion and their 
learning survived the wreck of Empire; and 
the fostering care of the tolerant Acbar, in 
the course of a fifty years' reign*, in a great 
measure, repaired the losses sustained, from 
the fury of his predecessors. 

Aided by the counsel of a wise and intelli¬ 
gent vizier, he appreciated the Hindoo genius, 
character, and acquirements; he promoted 
their views, made establishments for their 
Priests, and encouraged their learning, their 
sciences, and their arts;—and the testimony 
of Abulfazel alone, is sufficient to evince, 
that the wisdom of the Hindoos had not past 
away, like that of the Egyptians f. 

What is wisdom ? and what is civilization? 
Had not the Hindoos brought the arts of 
peace to the highest perfection; and rivalled 
in astronomic science, the philosophers of 
Europe; ere the lust of conquest in the 11th 
century, had impelled to their shores, the 
hostile hords of the West? and under the 
subsequent dominion of those invaders, was 
* Acbar died in 1605. + See Appendix, E. 


109 


it not ultimately found necessary to govern 
them, with due attention to their own Laws* 
Manners, Customs, and Religion?—Under 
Acbar they were secure ; under many of his 
successors, not neglected ; and even the mer¬ 
ciless Aurungzebe *, who destroyed many of 
their Temples, at length adopted the neces¬ 
sary policy of relinquishing the persecution he 
had instituted against them f. 

Have they not likewise, within a hundred 
years, built Observatories^ at Benares, at 
Delhi, at Muttra, at Jypoor and Ou- 
oein ? which would seem to evince, rather an 
advancement than a decline, as an enlighten¬ 
ed people. 

But, it will be said, they are superstitious 
and idolatrous; and have many customs that, 
in the present improved state of general man¬ 
ners, must be regarded as highly reprehen¬ 
sible—and consequently, though * they are 
“ proved, on good evidence, to have been a 
" civilized people in former days^’ no man 

* He died in 1707. + See Appendix, F. 

t See Appendix, G. 


110 

will venture to contend for their present 
civilization. 

At what period, may we ask, did this 
alleged civilization, flourish among the Hin¬ 
doos, when we must presume, that supersti¬ 
tion, idolatry, and self-devotement, had not 
yet obtruded themselves, on the affirmed pu¬ 
rity of their system of moral practice? 

That it must have been previous to the 
invasion of India by the Greeks, seems in¬ 
contestable, as Mr. Buchanan himself assures 
us,^ that 44 the female sacrifice has subsisted, 
44 to our certain knowledge, since the time of 
44 Alexander the Great/ 

And we learn, both from Arrian and Plu¬ 
tarch, that the Sage Calanus^ ascended the 
flaming pile, in the presence of Alexander 
and his army. 

This, certainly, cannot have been the period 
we are in search of;—these circumstances 
strongly indicating the manners of the pre¬ 
sent day. We must therefore, look more re¬ 
motely, for this era of Hindoo civilization. 

* Page 49. t About 327 years before Christ. 


Ill 


Ascending, accordingly, to the time of 
Budha, the last supposed incarnation of the 
Divinity, we find, that, on his manifestation, 
above three thousand years ago, at the com¬ 
mencement of the present age of the Hin¬ 
doos, human sacrifices ceased; as inadmis¬ 
sible in the Cali-yug; —and even the sa¬ 
crifice of other animals became considerably 
limited. 

“ There is a time for all things.” Sacri¬ 
fices of cattle were enjoined under the Mo¬ 
saic Dispensation :—We know of Jephtha's 
rash vow; and we read also, of the offered 
sacrifice of Isaac. Such things would not 
now be permitted; though they might then 
have been consistent with the manners of the 
people. Isaac, it is true, was redeemed with 
a goat; and Jephtha, by the law, might have 
redeemed his daughter: whether he did so, 
or not, seems very doubtful: — but the cho¬ 
sen people were always too much inclined to 
the manners of the heathen ; who made their 
children pass through the fire to Moloch; 
“ for even their sons and their daughters 


112 

u they have burnt in the fire to their 
“ Gods*.” 

Those, assuredly, were not times of much 

/ 

civilization. 

Shall we then say, that the time of 
Bud ha's appearance marked the era of 
Hindoo civilization; when he preached 
against the Nermedh, Goumedh, and As- 
sumed ii Jugg— or the sacrifice of Men, 
Kine, and Horses, which, since his time, 
are said to have been discontinued ? 

If in his days these things were done, 
shall we say that the Hindoos were then 
more civilized than when the practice entirely 
ceased;—a practice “ more honoured in the 
“ breach, than in the observance ?” 

Where, then, shall we look for this fancied 
era of pure civilization ? Somewhere per¬ 
haps between the era of Alexander and 
that of Budha: — but we learn from the 
Ayeen AcBARY-f*, that, 750 years before 
Christ, the sect of Budha complained to 


* Deut. xii, 31. 


t Vide Account of Mai wah. 


113 


the reigning prince, that the followers of 
Brahma, worshippers of fire, voluntarily 
precipitated themselves into the flames, on 
the altars of their Gods. 

This is, obviously, not the period that we 
seek; — we must go still higher; and we 
wander in the dark j nor does the dim light 
of the Indian fire-temples serve to guide us 
through the gloom. But, if Ignicoly was 
unknown in the days of Budha, it might 
subsequently have been adopted as a substi¬ 
tute for the Nermedh ; self-devotement be¬ 
ing less culpable, in the public eye, than the 
sacrifice of others. 

At all events, we still wander from the 
object of our research ; for, whether we seek 
it in the days of Ignicoly, down to Alex¬ 
ander, or in those of the Nermedh, ascend¬ 
ing beyond Budha, we can no where satis¬ 
factorily rest on a period of civilization un¬ 
sullied by the practice of pagan rites of su¬ 
perstition. 

The Hindoos say, that the Nermedh was 
most prevalent in the Sati-yug, or first age 

i 


114 


of the world; mankind being then in a* 
greater state of purity, and thus more nearly 
approaching divine perfection: they ac¬ 
cordingly believed, that they obviated, by 
this sacrifice, the necessity of future trans¬ 
migration; the purified spirit thus directly 
ascending to the regions of eternal bliss. 

It was this notion, doubtless, that gave 
rise to the Nermedii; that urged men to 
Jgnicoly; and that induced the Hindoo 
widow to ascend the flaming pile, with the 
body of her deceased husband. Urged by 
faith, and nursed by superstition, this dread¬ 
ful commutation was adopted, as a measure 
of ultimate purification from all sublunary 
stain. 

Whether, therefore, with Mr. Buchanan, 
v T e regard the Hindoos in their present al¬ 
leged state of mental degradation; view 
them like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed- 
nego, plunging into the fiery furnace, in the 
middle ages ; or bowing their necks on the 
ensanguined altars of Cali, in the golden 
or virtuous age of the Brahmins; we equally 


115 


mark the want of that desirable civilization, 
aimed at in the strictures of Mr. Buchanan ; 
that civilization, which, by means of the 
Christian Religion, he would now restore: 
that civilization, in short, which probably, 
according to his view of it, never had ex¬ 
istence, since the Hindoos became an estab¬ 
lished people. 

If the most profound researches in the 
exalted science of astronomy; if an estab¬ 
lished code of laws, multifarious and minute, 
even to the verge of trifling ; if a system of 
moral ordinances, of “ fewest faults, with 
“ greatest beauties joined,’’could alone es¬ 
tablish a claim to the grace of civilization ; 
the Hindoos probably possessed it in an emi¬ 
nent degree, not only as far back as the days 
of the Indian Rama*, whose contemporary, 
the sage Yajya Walca, two thousand 
years before Christ, expressly cites their 
code of laws, their Sastras and Poo- 


* The Seventh Incarnation of Vishnou. 


I 


o 


116 


hans*; but even down to tbe invasion of 
their country, by the Mahomedans ; for ma¬ 
king due allowance, for occasional interrup¬ 
tions from the hostile sect of Budiia; it 
may be presumed, that their arts, their sci¬ 
ences, and their laws, would have continued 
to flourish under the fostering hand of their 
own native princes; whose creed, senti¬ 
ments, manners, and customs, were inti¬ 
mately congenial with those of the subject 
multitude of the sect of Braiima. 

Whatever may have been the “ degree” of 
the early wisdom and learning of the Egyp¬ 
tians, it was probably at its summit of refine¬ 
ment, in the sixth century before Christ; 
when their country was invaded by the army 
of Cambyses-j*. Pythagoras, who was then 
in Egypt, was seized by the Persians, and 
sent, along with other prisoners, to Baby¬ 
lon. He had been two-and-twenty yeai> 


* See Appendix, H. 


+ Anno 525. 


117 


i n Egypt, 44 imbibing the stream of know¬ 
ledge’' from the Priests of that country ; who 
taught him “ those stupendous truths of 
46 their mystical ph/osophy, which were ne- 
* 4 ver before revealed to any foreigner/' He 
subsequently passed twelve years in Babylon, 
in the study of Chaldaic lore ; and it ap¬ 
pears, 64 that both the prophet Ezekiel, and 
44 the second Zoroaster resided there at the 
^ 4 same time.”' Ultimately, 44 he sought the 
j44 distant but celebrated Groves of the 
44 Brachmans of India/' 

44 By them, he was probably instructed 
44 in the true system of the universe; which, 
44 to this day, is distinguished by his name. 
44 Among them, he greatly enlarged theli- 
44 mits of his metaphysical knowledge ; and 
44 from them, he carried away the glorious 
44 doctrine of the Immortality of the Soul, 
44 which he first divulged in Greece, and the 
44 fanciful doctrine of the Metempsychosis */' 
Here then, perhaps, we ascertain the long- 

* Maurice’s Indian Antiquities, vol. v. p. 813. 


118 


sought period of Hindoo civilization ; when 
the wisdom and learning of the East, were 
equally conspicuous with those of Egypt and 
Chaldea. 

Since, therefore, the Hindoos are thus 
proved / 4 on good evidence/—that of Pytha¬ 
goras himself, to have been a civilized people 
in those days, we should endeavour to 
** make them a civilized people again.” 

To this, I have only one objection, which 
is, that in those, admitted, days of wisdom 
and learning, the Hindoos must have prac¬ 
tised Ignicoly: for, they appear to have 
done so, more than two hundred years before 
* Pythagoras *f* ; as well as two hundred 
years after him, in the time of Alexander. 

To this point of incivilization, though, con* 
fessedly, a period of wisdom and learning, 
Mr. Buchanan, I presume, does not wish the 
Hindoos to revert, and if they were then so 
uncivilized, as to throw themselves into the 

* Pythagoras was probably in India, about 510 vear& 
before Christ. 

+ Vide Ayeen Achary, as already cited. 


119 

flames; we may, reasonably, give them 
credit for some of the other obnoxious rites of 
the present day; and consequently, that 
they were then, not more civilized, than they 
are at present. 

If wisdom and learning alone, constituted 
civilization ; their code of laws, the Geeta, 
the Sastras, and Poorans*, would fully ma¬ 
nifest its possession before the time of Budha: 
they have these books still; and peruse 
them unremittingly.—In what point there¬ 
fore consists their present incivilization, that 
did not, generally speaking, equally prevail, 
in the time of Alexander, of Pythagoras, 
and of Budha? 

But, as no part of this discourse is in¬ 
tended to vindicate the Hindoos, from the 
imputation of practices, that are manifestly 
reprehensible; and which proceed from a 
zealous, though distorted principle of steady 
faith, in the dispensations of Providence: I 
therefore cheerfully unite in sentiment with 
Mr. Buchanan on the propriety, though I 
* Select Scripture Histories. 


120 

contend not for the expediency of tjicir 
abolition : but I humbly differ from him 
regarding the means necessary to be used, 
for obtaining a purpose so desirable. He 
inclines towards coercion; and would use 

GOVERNMENT AUTHORITY. 1 WOllld inter* 

pose religious influence, through the medium 
of the Pundits, who must first be gained 
over, by every argument that true religion 
can suggest, or reason tolerate: being clearly 
of opinion, that on minds so disposed to reli¬ 
gious subserviency, as those of the Hindoos; 
Sacerdotal influence would be infinitely more 
effectual than the mandates of Government. 

With respect, for instance, to the fact 
cited by Mr. Buchanan regarding the 
Koolin Brahmins, I think this sentiment pe« 
culiarly applicable. 


Ul 


EXCESSIVE POLYGAMY OF THE KOOLIN 
BRAHMINS. 


Mr. Buchanan states, that “ the Koolins, 
“ who are accounted the most sacred cast of 
“ the Brahmins, claim it as a privilege of their 
“ order, to marry an hundred wives; and 
“ they sometimes accomplish that number; 
“ it being accounted an honour, by the other 
“ Brahmins, to unite their daughters to a 
46 Koolin Brahmin.” 

“ This monopoly of women by the Koolin 
“ Brahmins, is justly complained of by 
Brahmins of the other orders; and they 
“ have expressed a hope, that it will be abo- 
“ lished by authority”* 

Perhaps there do not appear, throughout 
Mr. Buchanan's book, facts more strikingly 
inconsistent, than are submitted to our pe- 
f usal, in these two short paragraphs. 

* Page 112, 



122 


What peculiar circumstance may have 
given rise to a custom so extraordinary, I am 
altogether ignorant: but, it seems manifest, 
that, so long as it is “ accounted an honour 
“ by other Brahmins, to unite their daughters 
“ to a Koolin Brahmin,” the practice cannot 
fail of being continued.—Like the oil-fed 
fire, the vanity of the Brahmins thus impels 
them to its support; till, the tide of emulation 
overwhelming every scruple of decorum, it 
becomes irrevocably established, through the 
influence of reciprocal inclination. 

That, under such circumstances, this mo¬ 
nopoly of women by the Koolin Brahmins, 
should he complained of, by Brahmins of tire 
other orders, who, themselves, voluntarily 
contribute to its support; is an argument of 
such manifest inconsistency, as must imme¬ 
diately strike the eye of the most careless ob¬ 
servation. 

The Brahmins therefore cannot seriously 
44 have expressed a hope, that it will be abo- 
“ lished by authority,” The moment they do 
so becomes fatal to the verity of the pre- 


123 


mises ; and it can be no longer true, that 
they regard the indicated union as an ho¬ 
nour. 

If the custom displease them, there is no oc¬ 
casion for having recourse to “ Authority 0 
for its suppression; they have the law in 
their own hands ; and by refusing their 
daughters, beyond the number prescribed by 
their code of laws, the practice must entirely 
cease. 

But, were it even true, that they considered 
this monopoly as oppressive; upon the pre¬ 
sumption that it would be considered inde¬ 
corous, to resist the claim of the Koolin 
Brahmins; our Government, I trust, will 
never barter its dignity, by the suppression 
of a custom, with which it has no right to 
iuterfere. Should we ever be so unwise as to 
attempt it, it would equally be our duty, as 
Christians, to violate the law of the Sastras, 
and limit every Brahmin to a single wife. 

When, in all the plenitude of reformation, 
we shall have bowed the neck of superstition 
to the Christian 3 r oke, and fairly established 


124 


our Religion among the natives of India ; it 
will then be time enough to think of inter¬ 
posing our authority, for the suppression of a 
custom so inconsistent with our notions of 
social propriety: a custom, that some ancient 
Brahmin, in the days of his prosperity, and 
vested with power and authority, must have 
introduced, and left as a legacy to his tribe; 
and who, like the wise Solomon, considering 
66 what a inan hath, of all his labour, and of 
“ the vexation of his heart, wherein he hath 
“ laboured under the sun/' said to himself, 

4 - There is nothing better for a man, than that 
“ he should eat and drink, and that he should 
66 make his soul enjoy good in his labour.*” 

Many, however, will perhaps, be of opi¬ 
nion with Mr. Buchanan-f, that “the ef- 

<C FECTS OF THIS POLYGAMY ARE VERY PER- 
<e NICIOUS TO society; for, it is a copious 
“ source of female prostitution.” 

I must here, again, caution the reader 
against appreciating Hindoo manners, by the 
scale of any European people whatsoever, 

* Eccles. ii. 24. + Page 112. 


125 


The Hindoo female, brought up from her 
infancy under the eye of her parents; and 
married at an early age; still remains under 
their care, till summoned * to assume the 
duties and the cares of the marital depart¬ 
ment. At all times, is she carefully secluded 
from the conversation of men; except those 
of her own family, or other very near 
relatives; with whom, it would even be 
deemed indecorous, to be seen alone. 

“ Let not a man/’ says Menu f , “ sit in a 
“ sequestered place, with his nearest female 
u relations. The assemblage of corporal 
“ organs is powerful enough to snatch wis- 
“ dom from the wise/* 

Hence, perhaps, the Hindoo philosophers 
are of opinion, that the absence of tempta¬ 
tion is often the best safeguard to the virtue 
of either sex. 

However this may be; there is no country- 
in the world, where public decorum is so 
manifest, with regard to women, as in the 

* Usually, about the age of eleven, 
t Page 45. . 


126 


East; and though the Hindoo women are by 
no means secluded from public view, like the 
Mahomedans ; but, on the contrary, daily 
proceed, throughout the year, publicly to 
bathe in the rivers, tanks, or other reservoirs ; 
and go frequently, in the course of the day, 
to bring home water, for domestic purposes; 
yet, so guarded are they, by the influence of 
public manners, that, to accost them on the 
way, or to enter into conversation with them 
at the river, would be deemed highly repre¬ 
hensible, in any man, but a near relation. 
Nor scarcely can they, on such occasions, 
venture to step aside, on any pretence what¬ 
ever—they have no such excuses, as going to 
see a friend ; stepping to market; or to an 
exhibition of any kind. To go to such places, 
without previous arrangement, and attended 
by one of the family, or a female neighbour, 
would be totally inadmissible. No meeting 
them alone, in pleasant walks or groves, 
where one might join with them, in converse 
sweet, and eagerly disclose, in rapturous ec- 
stacy, the tender flame. An intrigue therefore. 


127 

with a Hindoo woman of any respectability 
must be a matter of no small difficulty. 

Mahomedan women, on the contrary, fre¬ 
quently visit, and go to shows and processions, 
either in covered carriages* or on foot, and 
usually attended only by female servants, who 
may equally serve as a check on their con¬ 
duct, or as ministers to their pleasures* 
That such opportunities may sometimes* be 
used for purposes not strictly consistent with 
female honour, may readily be conceived :— 
that they are often so abused, may well be 
doubted: but that they furnish a cloak un¬ 
der which it may be effected, is all I contend 
for ; and it seems to evince, that a Mahome-, 
dan lady, though residing in a seraglio, may 
often manage an intrigue, with more facility 
than almost any decent female of the Hindoo 
race, though apparently free from the fetters 
of personal restraint.—For, let it be con¬ 
sidered, that Mahomedan women liavei usu¬ 
ally a numerous train of female servants; 
who, from interest, must be presumed, di¬ 
rectly devoted to their service: that female 


n 8 


dignity is not always proof against solicita¬ 
tion, supported by pecuniary influence; and 
that, consequently, through the medium of 
such servants, assignations may often be ma¬ 
naged without much difficulty. 

On the other hand, patriarchal simplicity, 
still, so far influences Hindoo manners, that 
in general, very few have menial servants? 
the common offices of the household being 
performed, either by the mistress, or some 
other individual of the family, relatives of 
the husband or wife. One grand obstacle 
thus opposes itself to the wandering desires of 
female sensibility ; a s it must be less difficult 
to bribe a servant, than a sister, a cousin, an 
aunt, or a grandmother ; who are all equally 
interested in preserving the honour of the 
family ; and who would consider themselves 
degraded, by the misconduct of any of its 
members; for, I believe it is unremittingly 
inculcated, that loss of cast to the whole 
family, would b<? the consequence of detec¬ 
tion. Opportunities for transgression, must 
thus necessarily, be limited, where mutual 


129 

interest renders the most scrupulous atten¬ 
tion to female dignity and correctness, a 
duty, at once the most imperious and indis¬ 
pensable. 

We may therefore venture to conclude, 
that the Hindoo female, though free from the 
appearance of restraint, is considerably more 
a slave than the Mahomedan : the restraint 
upon the latter being merely personal; 
whereas the Hindoo is influenced by a 
tyranny of a more imperious nature ; a re¬ 
straint upon the mind. 

If to these considerations be added, the 
serious injunctions of the law; and the indi¬ 
cated consequences of transgression; inde¬ 
pendent of every rational principle of female 
pride, dignity, and virtue, we shall find, the 
avenues that lead to the mansions of frailty, 
so strewed with difficulties, as powerfully to 
check the ebullitions of desire; and happily 
guard against those lapses that might ulti¬ 
mately prove fatal to domestic happiness. 

The following admonitions to the Hindoo 


K 


130 

wife, from the ordinances of Menu*, will 
tend to set this matter in a clearer light: 

V. 149*—“ Never let her wish to separate 
“ herself from her father, her husband, or her 
“ sons; for, by a separation from them, she 
“ exposes both families to contempt.’" 

V. 155.— 66 As far only, as a wife honours 
44 her lord, so far she is exalted in heaven."" 

V. 136*.—“ fai thful wife, who wishes to 
“ attain in heaven, the mansion of her hus- 
“ band, must do nothing unkind to him, be he 
“ living or dead/" 

V. 157-—“ Let her emaciate her body, by 
“ living voluntarily, onpure flowers, roots, 
“ and fruit ; but let her not, when her lord 
“ deceased, even pronounce the name of 
44 another man/" 

V. 158.— 44 Let her continue till death, for- 
44 giving all injuries, performing harsh duties, 
44 avoiding every sensual pleasure, and cheer- 
44 fully practising the^in com parable rules of 
44 virtue, which have been followed by such 


Page 142. 


331 

€< women as were devoted to one only Inis- 
“ band/' 

V. 160.—“ A virtuous wife ascends to hea- 
“ ven, though she have no child ; if, after 
“ the decease of her lord, she devote her- 
“ self to pious austerity/' 

V. l6l.—“ But a widow, who, from a 
“ wish to bear children, slights her decea- 
“ sed husband, by marrying again, brings 
“ disgrace on herself here below; and shall 
“ be excluded from the seat of her lord/' 

V. 162.—“ A married woman, who violates 
“ the duty which she owes to her lord, brings 
“ infamy on herself in this life; and, in the 
“ next, shall enter the womb of a Shakal, 
“ or be afflicted with Elephantiasis, and other 
“ diseases, which punish crimes/' , 

P. 234, v. 253.—“ Since adultery causes 
u to the general ruin, a mixture of classes 
“ among men; thence arises violation of 
“ duties; and thence is the root of felicity 
“ quite destroyed/' 

V. 371.—“ Should a wife, proud of her 
“ family, and the great qualities of her kins- 
k 2 


132 


“ men, actually violate the duty which she 
“ owes to her lord ; let the king condemn 
44 her to be devoured by dogs, in a place 
44 much frequented.” 

V. 372.— 46 And let him place the adul- 
44 terer on an iron bed, well heated, under 
44 which the executioners shall throw logs 
44 continually, till the sinful wretch be there 
44 burned to death.’' 

Let the candid reader review all the facts 
here detailed ; let him contemplate the 
Hindoo female nurtured in the lap of inno¬ 
cence, and free from the contagion of vicious 
example, shuddering at the bare idea of the 
dread menace of the law ; of entailing in¬ 
famy on her family ; of handing down her 
name with detestation to posterity ; and, 
more than all, perhaps, the apprehension of 
expiating, in a future birth, the transgres¬ 
sions of the present; either under the de¬ 
grading form of some disgusting animal; or, 
in a leprous state, to be an object of public 
scorn, from the implied presumption of ori- 


133 


ginal contamination. Let him weigh well 
these circumstances; sum up the account; 
and apply the argument, with due force, to 
the present object of investigation ; then, let 
him candidly declare, how far the practice 
of the Koolin Brahmins, merits Mr. Bu¬ 
chanan's unqualified charge, of being — 
“a copious source of female p host it ut I on.” 

Taking the question in another point of 
view, it will appear, that we have not yet 
exhausted all the reasons that might be 
urged as a defence, against the imputation 
of Mr. Buchanan. 

Let us then, for sake of argument, admit 
the charge ; let us take an extensive range ; 
and let us suppose the seraglios of a score or 
two, of these luxurious Brahmins, bursting 
from the trammels of decorous restraint, and 
inundating the hallowed paths of the vir¬ 
tuous, with the impure streams of vicious 
inclination:—How detrimental to social hap¬ 
piness; how injurious in example; how de¬ 
structive to the peace and order of society ; 
and, judging from the dire example of the 


134 


frail sisterhood in Europe, how subversive 
of every rational hope of comfort, to the de¬ 
luded objects themselves, must be the irre¬ 
gularities of such a multitude, thus thrown 
loose upon the world ! 

How fatal, moreover, must be the conse¬ 
quence to population !—For, it will not, I 
presume, be contended that this unfortunate 
class of citizens is likely to contribute much 
towards repairing the ravages of war, by fur¬ 
nishing a supply of recruits, for our fleets 
and armies: We know that it is not; expe? 
rience fully proves, that the fact is indispu¬ 
table. 

If then, we can fairly establish alike result, 
against the practice of the Koolin Brahmins; 
candour must yield it to instant condemna¬ 
tion. 

Happily, however, this dread result is at 
once obviated, by the unequivocal confes¬ 
sion of Mr. Buchanan himself; for he assures 
us*, that “ the progeny is so numerous, in 
cs some instances, that a statement of the 
* Page ill. 


135 

4 * number recorded in the registers of the 
“ cast, would scarcely obtain credit ” 

Who, then, are those Indian women, 
against whom, such a serious charge has been 
exhibited, and who furnish such a mass of 
population, as scarcely to obtain credit?— 
That they are virtuous, we must necessarily 
conclude, from every fair principle of rea¬ 
soning: Let us then, reverse the judgement 
of Mr. Buchanan; by liberating the indi¬ 
cated practice, from the injustice of his im¬ 
putations. 


DIVERSITY OF RELIGIOUS TENETS AMONG 
THE HINDOOS. 


The diversity of tenets among the Hin¬ 
doos seems likewise to furnish matter of ani¬ 
madversion to the pious Mr. Buchanan; 





136 


but, in the arduous path of reformation, this 
circumstance I conceive, should rather be 
regarded with the eye of satisfaction ; since, 
if they be “ a divided people, and have no 
“ common interest,” the more readily will 
they receive the impression of a new bias; 
and if the reformer be limited in time, his 
labour will thus be materially abridged. 

“ Of the chief Brahmins in the College 
16 of Fort-William/' says Mr. Buchanan*, 
“ there are few, (not being of the same dis- 
“ trict) who will give the same account of 
“ their faith ; or refer to the same sacred 
“ books. So much do the opinions of some of 
“ those, now in the College, differ, that they 
“ will not so much as worship, or eat with 
“ each other/’ 

In excuse for the Brahmins, it may per¬ 
haps be allowed us to plead the venial want 
of that maturity of human wisdom, which 
Providence seems yet to have withheld from 
them ; for, Mr. Buchanan confidently assures 

* Page 29 . 



us, that 44 in ten centuries the Hindoos will 
46 not be as wise as the English. * 

Under the fostering hand of Mr. Bucha¬ 
nan’s instructive care, this term, 1 have no 
doubt, would be considerably abridged ; but 
what answer will he give the Brahmins, 
should they ask him, if no jarring diversities 
pervade our own practice? for, they might 
naturally expect, from our claimed superio¬ 
rity of wisdom, that one plain unvaried sys¬ 
tem of religion flowed from our sacred code. 

Ponder this, ye Divines of the Christian 
Church; and commend, if you can, the 
consistency of your reverend champion in the 
East, who thus wantonly plunges you into so 
delicate a dilemma ! 

In an ignorant layman, perhaps, the in¬ 
advertence had been of less importance; we 
should have directly told him, to mind his 
own business ; — 46 ne sutor ultra crepidam; ” 
and not meddle with church* matters; but 
that a Divine of the English Church, the 
Reverend Claudius Buchanan, M.A., stand¬ 
ing in the conspicuous situation of Vice- 


138 

provost of the College at Fort-William; 
Professor of Classics ; Chaplain to the Presi¬ 
dency ; and Member of the Asiatic Society ; 
should thus voluntarily have committed the 
dignity of Christian dispensation, by an in¬ 
judicious exposure of the mote in the eye of 
his brother priest, is a consideration the 
more lamentable, as it must unnecessarily 
subject him to obvious recrimination: and 
thus, from his relative situation, as the pub¬ 
lic organ of our faith, must materially injure 
the cause he would support. 

The indignant Brahmin would perhaps tell 
him, to look at home; to remove the beam 
from his own eye; and first, to reconcile the 
various sects that branch from the Christian 
code, ere he condemned the aberrations of 
the Brahmins, or presumed to decide on ad¬ 
ventitious distinctions of ceremonial wor¬ 
ship, of which, ignorant of the cause, he 
could not judge of the propriety. 


139 


RELIGIOUS MENDICANTS. 


Another object of importance, to which 
Mr. Buchanan would extend the hand of 
reformation, is the number of religious men¬ 
dicants observable throughout India. 

“ The whole of Indostan,” he says,* “swarms 
“ with lay beggars; in some districts there 
“ are armies of beggars; they consist, in ge- 
“ neral, of thieves and insolvent debtors ; and 
fC are excessively ignorant, and notoriously 
“ debauched!” 

That this class is numerous, cannot be dis¬ 
puted : but, that they are “ excessively ig- 
“ norant and notoriously debauched/' is at 
least questionable. 

In what ae they ignorant ? Their profes¬ 
sion : — What is it? Religion :—being a fra¬ 
ternity of itinerant devotees, who pass the 
greater part of their lives in pilgrimage, to 
* Page 105 , 


f 




140 

the most celebrated shrines of India ; from 
the source of the Ganges to the sea; from 
the northern mountains to Ceylon. 

If I have not been able to appreciate the 
measure of their information, or understand¬ 
ing;, I must, however, do them the justice 
to say, that, on the subject of their vocation 
at least, I have ever found them intelligent 
and instructive: and, whatever little know¬ 
ledge I may possess, on the subject of their 
Mythology, has chiefly been gleaned from 
persons of this description. There may be in¬ 
solvent debtors among them ; and there may 
likewise, be thieves; but, that they are in 
general, ‘"notoriously debauched/ 5 is an im¬ 
putation I never heard against them, from 
any native whatsoever. 

I am afraid that Mr. Buchanan's zealous 
anxiety for Eastern reformation, has here 
induced an unamiable bias, that presents 
to his view, the whole system of Hinduism, 
distorted and enlarged, through the micro¬ 
scopic lens of unworthy prejudice.—Thus; 

— “ All seems yellow to the jaundiced eye. ” 





141 


But, “ this begging system,” he tells us*, 
“.is felt as a public evil by the industrious 
“ part of the community.” 

What community, alas ! is without its 
evils ? it is the lot of frail humanity, neces¬ 
sarily connected with the general nature of 
society. But if the claims of those mendi¬ 
cants become a tax on the industry of the 
Hindoos, it must be considered, that they 
are the oxly poor they have to support: 
that their donations are gratuitous ; and being 
commonly proportioned to the relative de¬ 
grees of individual wealth, bear, I will ven¬ 
ture to say, with a lighter pressure on their 
finances, than the systematic levy of contri¬ 
butions, exacted for the poor of our own 
country, by the mandate of the law. 

It would however, be erroneous to suppose, 
that all these pilgrims are destitute of pro¬ 
perty. “ In some districts there are armies of 
“ beggars.” I have seen battalions of them 
completely armed, at Muttra and Hurduar, at 


* Page 103. 


142 


the time of the greater festivals ; and have 
seen them file off, in regular order, through 
the towns, without exacting any contribution, 
either from the fears or the benevolence of any 
of the inhabitants.—This may not always be 
the case ; but I believe, transgression is 
not frequent. 

As a proof that pilgrims are not always 
poor, I beg leave to relate a circumstance 
that came within my own knowledge, some 
years ago, at the military station of Barham - 
poor, in Bengal. 

Sitting one day in my Bungalow*, the 
approach of a palankeen was announced ; 
and on stepping to the door, a well-dressed 
Hindoo descended from the vehicle. He 
was attended by eight bearers*!*, four foot¬ 
men, with spears, and two others, with short 
silver maces ;—the whole party, neatly and 
uniformly dressed. 

After a modest preface, and affectation of 
humility ; he stated, that he was on a pilgrim- 


* A thatched house. 


t Palankeen-men. 


143 


age to the great Temple of Juggut Nauth*;— 
that he had already travelled three-hundred 
miles ; and, having made a vow of poverty, 
and consequent mendicity, during his pil¬ 
grimage ; had, in the spirit of that vow, taken 
the liberty of waiting on me, to solicit pecu¬ 
niary aid, towards enabling him to prosecute 
his journey to the Sacred Shrine. 

“ I have been with the commanding officer, 
“ (said he,) and with other great men in can- 
“ tonments; and, hearing of your liberality, 
“ have thus ventured to approach you.” 

There was no resisting the compliment; 
and, as I could not reach my hand with a 
trifle, to so great a man, I very reluctantly 
gave him, as much as would have satisfied a 
dozen poor fakeers. 

Some pilgrims, however, go very scantily 
dressed ;—and appear to possess the comforts 
of life, in a very limited degree. Individuals, 
also, may sometimes be seen, who are abso¬ 
lutely naked. These are of the sect of Gym- 
nosophists, so celebrated in the pages of anti- 

* The Mecca of the Hindoos, on the coast of Orissa. 


144 


quity;—and, in the course of twenty years, 

I may have casually, met a score of them. 

However the appearance of these naked 
philosophers may be considered as trespassing 
on the rules of decency; no people in In- * 

DI A, ARE HELD BY THE NATIVES, IN A GREATER 

degree of veneration. Being considered 
as having, by intense devotion, by relin¬ 
quishing all sensual gratifications, and by 
the severest discipline in the arduous and 
painful paths of pious austerity, obtained a 
complete victory over the passions ; they are 
universally regarded as beings, far exalted 
beyond the possible reach of all sublunary 
stain, and are venerated accordingly*. 

Their purity thus approaching the nature 
of the Divine essence ; to touch their feet, in 
salutation, is thence considered by the most 
exalted Hindoo, an equal honour and a duty. 
To this honour, accordingly, the chastest 
women, unhesitatingly approach. In his 
view, there is no distinction of sex or con- 

* They are commonly styled Purrim-lmnse; i. e. a 
purified Spirit. 





145 


dition; with the equal eye of unconscious 
indifference, he regards the mass of man¬ 
kind ; insensible to their praise, and unso- 
licitous of applause. 

That men of such a description, or even 
the common class of itinerant pilgrims, should 
be considered “ as the public and licensed 
“ corrupters of the morals of the people,” is 
a sentiment,— 

C( Which I would stamp as false, tho’ on the tongue 

u Of Angels, the injurious slander hung.” 

That the suppression of these orders “ would 
“ contribute greatly, to the improvement of 
“ the Natives of Indostan,” I very much 
doubt; nay, I should rather suppose, that 
those whose minds are not totally absorbed 
in worldly considerations, must often be 
edified by the pious example of those wan¬ 
dering classes; who, rejecting the usual com¬ 
forts ascribed to Asiatic indolence, undertake, 
at all seasons of the year, painful journeys, 
through gloomy forests, infested by wild 
beasts; over mountains of difficult ascent; 
or across the scorching plains of Uppef 

Jj 


146 


India; either for the expiation of their sins, 
the discharge of pious vows, or with a 
view of rendering the Deity propitious to 
their ultimate hopes of future beatitude. 

Enlightened by their discourse, and emu¬ 
lating their piety; the housekeeper, the 
mere man of the world, is thus likely to 
become, by the improvement of his morality, 
a better subject of the state, and an honester 
member of the community. 

But, however desirable the suppression of 
these orders might possibly be, in any view 
of the subject; I am fully persuaded that 
the measure would be utterly impracticable; 
and thence, eminently unwise ? and dan¬ 
gerous to attempt. 

The first indication of such an intention, 
on the part of Government, would probably 
raise the spirit of alarm and resistance through¬ 
out the country. All private animosities of 
rival sects, would soon yield to a mutual 
sense of common danger; and the strong 
hand of unanimity would instantly be raised 
to repel the advances of aggression. 


147 

I cannot view them at this stage, without 
serious alarm for the consequences : for, ex¬ 
clusive of the Hyragecs and other various 
sects, the Nagas and Soniassm* alone, are 
probably, more numerous than all the forces 
of the company; and annually assemble in 
arms, at the greater festivals; but chiefly 
near Muttra and the Hurduar, at the time 
of the vernal Equinox. 

From rabble of such a description, as we 
would style them, without cavalry or artil¬ 
lery, what danger could we apprehend ? 
They dare not meet us in the field; but if, 
unhappily, the necessity should ever arise, 
they will, 1 dare say, adopt a more obvious 
policy; nor would they long want cavalry, 
to aid them in the contest, while there re¬ 
mained in Hindostan a single chief, hostile 
to our interests.—1 need not here describe the 
well-known predatory mode of Indian war¬ 
fare ;—we have not troops enough to check 
them in every direction; they would ac¬ 
cordingly, at least, over-run the country, 

* See Appendix, I. 

L 2 


148 


plunder our subjects, and ruin the re¬ 
venues. 

Let us seriously meditate on the possible 
consequences of such a contest; such a 
rising of the native multitude, displaying 
the banners of insulted religion. Let us 
consult the page of European history, for 
the dire effects of superstition, and the ani¬ 
mated fervour of religious fury :—and let us 
even contemplate the late disaster at Buenos 
Ayres, where a peasant multitude, hostile in 
religious sentiment, discomfited our best 
troops; and it may teach us, if we are 
gifted with the blessing of discernment, that 
even a hundred thousand armed pilgrims 
are not to be despised, when urged, as Mr 
Buchanan says *, “ by a spirit vindictive and 
“ merciless r exhibiting itself, $t times, in a 
“ rage, and infatuation, which is without 
“ example among any other people.” 

Besides, should the standard be once 
raised, on the Score of religion ; what confi¬ 
dence can we repose in the fidelity of our 


* See page 34 . 


149 

Hindod soldiers ? Their defection would be 
more formidable than the whole Mahratta 
power. What hopes could we even enter¬ 
tain* that they would stand neuter, in the 
contest; while we cherished the visionary 
hope of succeeding, even against pilgrims, 
with European force alone? 

The result cannot for a moment, be con¬ 
templated without horror. Our utter exter¬ 
mination must be the necessary consequence 
of any violent infringement of what the Hin¬ 
doos hold dearer than life itself,—the sacred 
rites, the ceremonies and customs of their 
religion. 

But, it is not the Hindoos alone we should 
have to contend with on this occasion: can 
we rationally hope that the Mahomedans 
would be quiescent ?—or that their Fakeers, 
making common cause with their mendicant 
Brethren among the Hindoos, would not be 
active, in exciting among them, a spirit of 
animosity, sedition, and revolt ? 

Let us cast an eye to the late massacre 
at Vellore; to the subsequent mutiny at 


150 

Nuodydroog; and the recent disaffection af 
Palamcottah; where, in one day, four hun¬ 
dred and fifty Mahomedan sepoys, of one 
battalion, were disarmed, and turned out of 
the Fort, on the grounds of an intended 
massacre;—and we rely on the information of 
the Commanding officer at Tritchinopoly, 
that, at that period, a spirit of disaffection 
had gone forth ; had manifested itself at Ban¬ 
galore and other places ; and seemed to gain 
ground in every direction : and we have 
seen an injunction from the seat of Govern¬ 
ment, to guard with the strictest vigilance, 
and circumspection, the conduct of the iti¬ 
nerant Fakeers; from an apprehension that 
drey were zealously employed in disseminating 
the seeds of discord among the troops. 

It is likewise known, that the disaffection 
at Palamcottah, somewhat excited by recent 
alterations in dress, and other (apprehended) 
changes in Asiatic costume, was highly aggra¬ 
vated by an unhappy report in circulation, 
—that five Jiundred Europeans were on their 
way from Madras, for the purpose of en- 



151 


toicing the conversion to Christianity, of* all 
the Mahomedans in the garrison. 

This single fact should satisfy Mr. Bu¬ 
chanan, of the impolicy and manifest dan¬ 
ger, of agitating religious questions among 
the natives of India; and I sincerely hope 
they may ever remain in ignorance of the 
following sentiments in his Memoir*: 

“The Mahometans profess a religion which 
“ has ever been characterized by political bi- 
“ gotry, and intemperate zeal. In this coun- 
“ try, that religion still retains the character 
“of its bloody origin; particularly among 
“ the higher classes. Whenever the Mahome¬ 
tan finds his Religion touched, 1 he grasps 
“ Miis dagger.’ This spirit was seen in full 
“operation under Tippoo's government, and 
“ it is not yet extinguished.— But, will the 
“ Mahometan ever bend humbly to Christian 
“ dominion ? — never, while he is a Maho- 
“ metan.” 

“ Is it, then, good policy to cherish a vin- 
“ dictive religion in the bosom of the Empire 
“ for ever ?” 


* Page 30. 


152 


44 A wise policy seems to demand that we 
44 should use every means of coercing this 
44 contemptuous spirit of our native subjects. 
44 —Is there not more danger of losing this 
“ country, in a revolution of ages, (for an em- 
44 pire without a Religious Establishment can- 
44 not stand for ever,) by leaving the disposi- 
44 tions and prejudices of the people in their 
44 present state, than by any change that 
44 Christian knowledge, and an improved 
44 state of civil society, would produce in 
44 them ?—And would not Christianity, more 
44 effectually than any thing else, disunite 
44 and segregate our subjects, from the neigh- 
44 bouring states, between whom, there must 
44 ever be, as there ever has been, a constant 
“ disposition to confederacy, and to the sup- 
44 port of a common interest ?” 

I am thankful to Mr. Buchanan for the 
admission, in the closing lines of the last para¬ 
graph ; inasmuch as it furnishes a strong ar¬ 
gument against his unwise project of Refor¬ 
mation : for, should that acknowledged dis¬ 
position to confederacy, be ever urged t® 



153 


maturity, by the hostility of religious sen¬ 
timent, little will it avail us to reflect, that the 
act of Reformation is “ a solemn and im- 

<c PERIODS DUTY, EXACTED BY OUIt RELIOION 
“ AND PUBLIC PRINCIPLES,” We should, I 

fear, soon expiate our folly, by a general 
martyrdom, under the daggers of supersti¬ 
tion, impelled by the fury of Mahomedan 
^eal, and Hindoo fanaticism. 


DANGER OF ATTEMPTING TO CONVERT THE 
NATIVES OF INDIA. 

It maj r perhaps be imagined that I over¬ 
rate this danger, and that our power is too 
firmly established to apprehend such a result. 

We are, doubtless, a formidable people, 
on the present system of Indian tenure; and 
so long as we can conciliate the affections 
of our Indian subjects, we have nothing, I 
trust, to fear from the hostility of rival states, 
especially as we seem to have cherished the 





154 


the policy of that state-maxim; “Divide 
“and govern and thus, by working on the 
fears or the avarice of individuals, have 
somewhat relaxed the bonds of subsisting 
amity, among the Indian Chiefs. 

Now, it appears to me, that, under the 
predominant influence of rival interests, 
where the conduct of princes is chiefly re¬ 
gulated only by the impulse of their imme¬ 
diate wants, the scale of their power, or the 
measure of their ambition; there exists in 
India, no grand cementing principle of poli¬ 
tical action; likely, in the present posture 
of affairs, to collect the scattered rays of 
discontent, into a single focus of exertion. 
Were there such a principle, 1 fear we could 
not long resist its influence. But, should a 
motive absolutely be found, combining all 
the energies of Indian population; a mo¬ 
tive alike pervading every breast, from the 
peasant to the prince, and actuating to exer¬ 
tion every energy of the soul: to the influ¬ 
ence of such a motive, what arms could we 
oppose ? 


155 

I will, therefore, venture to say, that if 
there be, in human nature, such a motive# 
principle of action, it is to be found only 
in the precincts of religion; and holds its 
reign in Hindostan. 5 

With despotic influence, and mounted on 
the pinacle of Superstition, it attracts within 
its vortex, all the discordant atoms of civil 
feuds, and rival animosities ; and stands, like 
the genius of Punishment, “ with a black 
“ hue and a red eye*,” menacing desolation— 
or, like the daemon of Distrust, with dark, 
suspicious mien, and cautious step, it silently 
approaches the mansions of peace, with the 
contracted brow of sullen discontent; till, 
urged by the congenial assimilation of uni¬ 
versal dissatisfaction, like the fell tyrant of 
the forest, it springs, unsuspected, on the foe, 
and devotes him to destruction. 

Shall we appeal to the Crusades ? shall we 
appeal to St. Bartholomew ? shall we appeal 
to our own blood-stained annals, for a confir¬ 
mation of this sentiment ? Yes, we may con- 
* Menu, 168 . 


fklently appeal ; and, unhappily, we shall 
f*id, that, of all the evils, with which the 
vengeance of Heaven hath ever affticted a de¬ 
voted land, that of Religious fury, is the 
most contagious, destructive, outrageous and 
ungovernable. 

We should therefore pause, before we 
erect the standard of Reformation on the 
plains of Ilindostan. 

Hitherto, Missionaries have been suffered 
to reside in India, neither publicly sanc¬ 
tioned by government; nor yet absolutely dis¬ 
countenanced ; and so long as they confined* 
themselves to the modest limits of their voca¬ 
tion, converting distressed orphans, or outcast 
Hindoos, who sought refuge, in despair, for 
the loss of respectability ; no material evil 
could arise, from the exercise of their func¬ 
tions, in so limited a degree ; but now, that 
they have presumed, without permission of 
Government, to circulate addresses among 
our subjects, of a manifest tendency to dis¬ 
turb the peace and order of society, by exci- 
* See Appendix, K. 


157 


ting distrust in the public mind, to the ulth* 
mate danger of our dearest interests in that 
country ; however great therefore, my respect 
for their sacred character, eminent talents, 
or individual respectability ; I have no hesi¬ 
tation in declaring the dread moment to be 
arrived, when the absolute safety of the state 
requires that they should be for ever silenced*. 

Often have I contemplated, with equal 
wonder and satisfaction, the degree of confi¬ 
dence exacted from us, by natives of every 
description ; and as often done justice to the 
fidelity that inspired it. The reader will 
perhaps wonder too, when he considers, that 
almost every individual gentleman in India, 
is usually surrounded by a tribe of domes¬ 
tics, from ten to thirty in number; all, more 
or less necessary to his comfort; or indis¬ 
pensable to his rank. Inapprehensive of dan¬ 
ger, and confiding in their attachment, he 
reposes in security ; with his doors, perhaps, 
wide open. 

Could he do this, for a single day, with 
any prospect of personal safety, unless he 
* See Appendix, K. 


158 

conciliated native affection, by due atten* 
tion to its prejudices ? 

Contemplate us also, in cantonments, or 
in camp ; in parties perhaps of twenty or 
thirty, daily dining together; unsuspecting, 
unprotected, and usually unarmed; what 
facility for the work of death, by setting fire 
to our bungalows, or cutting the tents about 
our ears, and slaughtering us without mercy ! 

Almost with equal facility, and in like 
manner, might the European soldiers be dis¬ 
posed of, in the silent hour of repose, and 
be separated from their arms. 

The reader will know, that I speak not 
here, at random ; it was thus done at Vel¬ 
lore; and might be done again. 

It therefore behoves us, by every possible 
means, to guard against the event: but, un¬ 
less we conciliate our native soldiers, and 
every man around us, by mild and rational 
demeanour; by every reasonable indulgence 
on the score of religious observance; and by 
a candour and a confidence that may obviate 
all distrust; in vain shall we seek security, 


159 

in the shade of, European force; the dis¬ 
parity of numbers is so great, as forcibly to 
impress upon the mind, the only alterna¬ 
tive we should have left,—that of timely 
quitting the country, ere the relentless storm 
of offended Religion burst on our devoted 
heads. 


CONCLUSION. 

^ * 

I shall now take leave of the Reverend Mr. 
Buchanan : not that I deem the remaining ar¬ 
guments in his Memoir altogether invulnera¬ 
ble ; but that, having already glanced at the 
more material points, I feel some considera¬ 
tion for the reader's patience, which must al¬ 
ready have been sufficiently exercised in the 
course of this discussion. Let him, by all 
means, accept the proffered service of the 
Sectaries *; those renegadoes from the faith 
in which they were nursed; who, perhaps suf- 


* See Memoir, p. 106. 




160 


fering restraint under the severity of its dis^ 
cipline, have possibly, in seceding, left be¬ 
hind them, with its forms, the sound mora¬ 
lity that it inculcates ; and must thus, highly 
edify us, by the philosophy of their opi¬ 
nions. Being, however, Unitarians; if they 
have any religion, they will at first require 
some little management : for, having so re¬ 
cently abjured the Indian Triad, Brahma, 
Vishnou, and See va, they will not immediate¬ 
ly', perhaps, relish the Gospel doctrine of the 
Trinity ; difficulties, however, of this nature 
are only incentives to the Christian Reformer; 
they give a lustre to his zeal, and enhance 
the merit of his services ; he need, there-^ 
fore, not despair ;— 

u Unwearied diligence his point will gain, 

H And yield an ample rccompence for all his pain.’- 


APPENDIX. 



161 


APPENDIX; 


A. —Page 68; 

Mr. Buchanan should not have disdained 
to notice, another church in Calcutta—the 
old Missionary church; usually styled Padre 
Kiernanders. 

B. —Page 6s. 

Mr. Buchanan is not correct, in stating* 
that “ the two British Armies in Hindostan 
<c and the Dekhan, lately in the field, had 
a not one chaplain.’* 

The Reverend Doctor Me. Kinnon, chap¬ 
lain to his Majesty’s 76th Regiment, offi¬ 
ciated with that Corps, in the field, under 
Lord Lake, and died in camp, towards the 
close of the campaign. 


Page 2. 

1 * 



1 62 


C.—Page 96. 

The Indian goddess, Doorga Biiavanee, 
is usually represented with ten arms, and 
sometimes twenty, displaying different wea¬ 
pons ; or some attribute of the Indian divine 
Triad, Brahma, Visiinou, andSEEVA, —or 
of Ganes a, the god of Wisdom. 

This formidable array, is doubtless inten¬ 
ded to intimate, the uncommon powers, the 
fortitude, requisite for the discomfiture of 
sin,—that ** ravening shark, or crocodile of 
“ the world,” as Menu styles it*. 

In this contest, sin, though subdued, is 
not destroyed. The prostrate foe is spared, 
on condition of future subserviencyand 
here, again, we see, the unperishable nature 
of that enemy to human happiness. 

Sin seems very appropriately typified in 
the Buffalo; which is unquestionably the 
boldest, the fiercest, and most dangerous 
animal of the forest. 


* Page A. 


163 


Bha vanee is a general appellation of the 
consort of Seeva, in her war capacity. 

As Cali Bhavanee, the consort of time, 
she is the emblem of destruction, which has 
its appointed period : but here, the attribute 
is limited, to temporaneous victory ; and the 
Spear of Doorga, however successful, seems, 
like that of Bradamant* to inflict no mor¬ 
tal wounds. 

D.—Page 103. 

In the days of Apostolic grace, when the 
power of performing miracles was conferred 
upon the faithful ; a St. Paul, blest with 
the gift of tongues, might have thus argued, 
with his coadjutors, in the fertile field of 
Reformation. But, the sun of miracles has 
long set, upon the labourers in the vineyard. 
No longer necessary to the elucidation of 
the sacred truths of Christianity, it has left 
the line of duty, within the limits of mere 
human reason, connected with human policy. 
Had unconditional labour been now, im- 


* Vide Orlando Furioso. 
M 2 


164 


perative, as insisted on by Mr. Buchanan, 
a beneficent Deity would not have withheld 
from human industry, so powerful a means 
of promoting its success. 

E.—Page 108. 

Mr. William Hunter, at present Secretary 
to the Asiatic Society in Bengal, speaking of 
a } r oung Pundit, of his acquaintance, who 
died a few years ago, at Jayanagur, sags;—- 
“ This young man possessed a thorough 
“ acquaintance with the Hindoo astronomical 
<c science, contained in the various Sidhantas*, 
“ and that, not confined to the mechanical 
“ practice of rules; but founded on a geo- 
metric knowledge of their demonstration. 

“ In his possession, 1 saw the translation 
“ into Sanscrit, of several European works, 
<c executed under the orders of Jayasinhaf;— 
“ particularly Euclid's Elements, with the 
“ treatises of Plain and Spherical Trigonome- 
“ try, and on the Construction and Use of 

* Astronomic Tables, 
t Rajah, or Hindoo prince, of Jayanagur. 


165 

“ Logarithms, which are annexed to Cunn’s or 
“ Condamine’s edition. 

“ Besides these, the Pundit had a table of 
“ logarithms, and of logarithmic sines and 
“ tangents, to seven places of figures; and a 
“ treatise on Conic Sections 

Does this manifest proof of present learn¬ 
ing, fall short of Mr. Buchanan's idea of 
civilization ? or, can the Egyptians, whom he 
has compared with the Hindoos, shew any 
thing like it, at the present day ? 

F.—Page 109 . 

In the 6th volume of the Asiatic Researches* 
p. 11, Mr. Hunter observes;— 

“ But, even they who follow the intolerant, 
“ doctrines of the Koran, are no longer 
“ those furious and sanguinary zealots, who, in 
“ the name of God and his prophet, marked 
“ their course with desolation *md slaughter, 
“^demolishing the Hindoo Temples,and erect- 
“ ing mosques on their ruins. They found 
“ the patient constancy of the Hindu superiour 
“ to their violence; that the fear of torments 
* Asiatic Researches, vol. v. p. 209. 


1 66 


“ and of death zms unable to make him desert 
“ the tenets which his ancestors had handed 
<( dozen to him 9 from an unfathomable antiquity ; 

but that if left in the quiet possession of 
u these, he was a peaceable , industrious , and 
“ valuable Subject? 

The sentiments of Mr. Hunter, we see, are 
very different from those of Mr. Buchanan, 
who seems to think, the conversion of the 
Hindoos, a very practicable measure. — But, 
it should be considered that he has not been, 
by sixteen years, so long in India, as Mr. 
Hunter: we must therefore, not be unreason¬ 
able; let him have time: but, in ten years, 
we might naturally expect, that Mr. Bucha¬ 
nan would have formed juster notions on the 
subject, 

G.—Page 109. 

These five Observatories were built * by 
Jayasinha, Rajah of Jayanugur, under 
the auspices of the reigning Mogul Lmperor, 
Mahomed Siiaii; who died in the year 
1747 . 


* See Asiatic Researches, vol. vi. p. 42 . 


167 


H.—Page 115. 

As I deem it of importance to the verity 
of this discussion, that every stated fact may 
be exhibited, as far as possible, with the col¬ 
lateral support of extraneous testimony; and 
as I have, in page 115, assigned to the Hin¬ 
doo scriptures, a duration of two thousand 
years ; it may be equally necessary, as satis¬ 
factory to the reader, to have this point elu¬ 
cidated. 

The following extracts, I trust, will evince 
that my assertion is considerably within 
bounds. 

In the 6th volume of the Asiatic Researches, 
p. 71, Mr. William Hunter, Secretary to the 
Asiatic Society, in enumerating the succes¬ 
sion of the Rajahs of Ambiier, or Jaya- 
nugur, states, that, “from Prithi Raj to 
“ the present time, being a period of 295 years, 
“ we have fifteen reigns, giving 19, 2-3d years 
“ to each reign. If we allow the same length 
u to each of the reigns from Cus,ii the son of 
“ Rama to Prithi Raj, we shall place Cus,h 
“about the year 2628 before Christ.” 


168 

In the 2d volume of the Asiatic Researches, 
p. 400, Sir William Jones observes, — “It is 
€t agreed by all, that the lawyer Yagia-> 
“ walca was an attendant on the Court of 
“ Janaca, whose daughter Sita was the 
“ constant, but unfortunate wife of the great 
“ Rama, the hero of Valmic s poem; but 
“ that lawyer himself, at the very opening of 
“ his work, which now lies before me, n^mes 
“ both Parasar and Vyasa, among twenty 
“ authors, whose tracts form the body of ori-* 
“ ginal Indian law.” 

And in the preface to the Institutes of 
Menu, Sir William Jones acquaints us, that 
“ Vyasa, too, the son of Parasara before 
“ mentioned, has decided, that the Veda 
“ with its Angas, or the six compositions 
“ deduced from it; the revealed system 
“of medicine; the Puranas, or Sacred 
“ Histories; and the code of Menu, are 
“ four works of supreme authority, which 
“ ought never to be shaken by arguments 
“merely human.” — Further, in page 6. of 
the same preface, Sir William Jones gives it 


169 

as his opinion, that u the Vedas must have 
“ been written about six hundred years be- 
“ fore the Pur an as." 

Admitting then Cus,h the son of Rama, 
to have reigned 2628 years before Christ, the 
Vedas must be thrown back six hundred 
years at least beyond that period, or 
3200 years before Christ. 

I wish we could learn to have more re¬ 
spect for a people who can thus trace back 
their code of laws, nine hundred years be¬ 
yond the assigned period of the Deluge. 


I.—Page 147. 

These military pilgrims, the Soniassies 
or Goseins, who mix in the affairs of life, 
and largely engage in traffick, were formerly 
very troublesome in our Districts, on the 
borders of Assam, at Coosbehar and Jogi- 
Gopa ; and detachments of our troops have 
been frequently employed against them. 

They often engage in the rival contests of 
the Indian Chiefs; and, on a critical occa¬ 
sion, some years ago, six thousand of them 


170 


joined the forces of the Mahratta Chief, 
Sindiah, and enabled him, with an equal 
number of his own troops, to discomfit an 
army of thirty thousand men, headed by one 
of his rebellious subjects*. 

K.—Pages 156, 157. 

As the head station of the Bengal Mission¬ 
aries, is at the Danish settlement of Seram- 
poor; and as that place is, now, under our 
immediate controul; the complete suppres¬ 
sion of their functions must, therefore, be a 
work of great facility. It would not, per¬ 
haps, become me to assume the province of 
dictating the means necessary on this occa¬ 
sion ; but, it must be obvious, that while they 
remain within our territories; or in any part of 
Bengal; under the exercise or their 
own discretion, they will find no difficulty 
in circulating their admonitory tracts among 
our subjects. Many thousands of these tracts 
have already been dispersed, in every direc¬ 
tion, throughout the country; and it would 


* Asiatic Researches, vol. vi, p. 42. 


171 

be needless to dwell on the alarm they must 
now necessarily create in the public mind, in 
India, since the late serious and public agita¬ 
tion of the subject, by the Government of 
Madras*. 

The affair has now assumed an aspect of 
such importance, as to demand the utmost 
vigilance and energy of our Government in 
India, to guard against the evils that follow 
in its train:—To the Honourable Company 
therefore, and to the Empire at large, that 
Government stands pledged, by every sense of 
imperious duty, and every consideration of 
personal safety to our countrymen abroad, to 
obviate, by the most prompt and decisive 
interposition of their authority, the menaced 
consequences of that current of indignation 
now raised in the minds of our Indian sub¬ 
jects, by the impolitic, unwise, and improper 
conduct of those misguided Missionaries. 

* See Major Scott Waring’s Pamphlet. 


FINIS. 




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